Throw in the geologist Frank Muncaster in this ring of fear and terrible uncertainty. Muncaster a scientist, has a maimed hand, an odd smile and is terribly fearful of everything. He however, leads a peaceful and decent life entrenched in his lab, likes his nice job and is pretty much happy. Just when things are going on quite well for Frank, his mother dies and his brother Edgar comes down for her funeral from the United States of America. Edgar, a physicist, brags that he is part of an extremely sensitive project.
Edgar seems to be drinking heavily and despite his good job is deeply in need of money. For some reason an argument ensues between Frank and Edgar, who in a fit of bravado and drink tells Frank about the extremely sensitive project that he is working on, this drives Frank utterly berserk, he pushes Edgar out of a window and goes totally stark raving mad.
Everyone hears Frank screaming, repeating over and over, 'the World is coming to an end' all the while trashing his apartment, sadly for Frank his descent into hell has just begun; he is packed off to a lunatic asylum. His incarceration in the lunatic asylum is just the beginning of his horrors, all of a sudden everyone, just about everyone wants to lay their grubby paws on poor Frank.
Every side risks their lives to get hold of Frank; everyone wants to know, what the Great Big Secret is all about… In a fit of camaraderie, Frank reveals the secret to David who is trying to get Frank off to America with the help of other resistance workers. Now I wonder, it is no secret that the Americans and the Germans were in the race to build an 'extremely powerful weapon' to have an edge over the other side, victory would then be assured for the side in possession of the 'most powerful weapon'.
The British were aware too, they had intercepted a lot of documents that had something to do with obtaining raw material for the 'extremely powerful weapon' from Canada. Surely, Edgar, the brother could not have revealed much of the process to Frank during a drunken brawl.
To risk men and material to kidnap a sad geologist in the throes of a nervous breakdown so as to obtain a Dreadful Secret leaves me wondering and gasping I have read about Fascism, comparisons of it to different forms of Fascism in Europe.
To the amazing reviewers who taught me such a great deal, Thank you. Thought-provoking, highly atmospheric, novel. Also, wonderful end papers - maps of Europe and of the world in this fictional Jan 02, Clemens Schoonderwoert rated it really liked it. This tale is set in , and Germany controlling events in London and the rest of Britain. Everything is under supreme control, with the likes of the press, radio and tv, streets are patrolled by violent police, and all this and ever greater constraints the British will have to endure.
But resistance is growing, with Winston Churchill's Organization at the heart of it, but also an incarcerated scientis Read this book in , and its a standalone book about London after losing WWII to the Germans. But resistance is growing, with Winston Churchill's Organization at the heart of it, but also an incarcerated scientist, Frank Muncaster, will play a very important part towards freedom, for he knows a secret that could change the balance of world struggle for ever.
To release this Frank Muncaster, Civil Servant David Fitzgerald, secret spy for the Resistance, is sent to Birmingham in an attempt to rescue him and get him out of the country. What is to follow is a very thrilling kind of historical adventure, and that is brought to us by the author in a very entertaining fashion.
Very much recommended, for this is a splendid alternate story, and that's why I like to call this captivating book: "A Very Exciting Dominion"! Jun 13, Andy rated it liked it Shelves: shortlist , shortlist , shortlist , trl , crime-spy-politics , alternate-history. Instead of fighting on alone, Britain too accepts an armistice with Germany, falling under her sphere of influence with the Isle of Wight annexed to the German Army. This is the premise that what is too follow is based on.
A teaser of life in an alternate shows us the rise of Moseley to Home secretary, the Germans jostling for power as Hitler ails, Prime Minister Quisling of Norway, Fanny Craddock teaching viewers to make Sauerkraut Dominion is a slow burning spy novel with an alternate history twist. Clocking in at just under pages the perfect paperback edition , the book requires patience as a steady stream of characters complete with lengthy backstories are introduced along with multiple plot threads which eventually converge.
Sansom focuses on a small group of resistance fighters and their plight to keep a world changing secret safe from their oppressors. View 1 comment. Nov 24, Penelope Irving rated it it was ok. This book was a bit - well, miserable. In many ways it was well-written enough, in other ways some things annoyed me. But the fact is, I just didn't really enjoy it very much. I found I had to force myself to plough on to the end, and if I hadn't been listening to the audio book version, I'm pretty sure I would have put it aside for later about halfway through and not bothered to pick it up again.
The premise intrigued me, which is why I chose it in the first place - it's set in a Britain which This book was a bit - well, miserable. The premise intrigued me, which is why I chose it in the first place - it's set in a Britain which lost the Second World War or which, more accurately, never really fought it. In the universe of this novel, we made peace with Germany in and the Facist regime has been our ally for the past 15 years or so.
The novel is set in the early fifties. Germany reigns supreme in Europe and Britain is under its thumb, though not actually occupied.
I respect Sansome as a historically accurate author because of his detailed, vivid, convincing Shardlake series, set in a real-feeling medieval Britain, so I've no doubt that this pseudo-history is all plausible and well-researched. It just isn't very exciting or colourful, as indeed Britain was not in the real s. And various characters have an unfortunate tendency to info-dump the politics of the setting at each other, in 'as-you-know-my-friend' kind of way. There's also a feeling at some points that they suspect they're in an AU historical novel.
What would the world be like today? Of sorts. But I'm afraid it's not, or at least it wasn't as far as I was concerned, very thrilling. For a start, we have frank and full access to the actions, motivations and intentions of both sides. So the narrative viewpoint is split between the evil baddie Nazi Gestapo commander who is sent to the UK to capture a British scientist with a military secret, a decent British chap who is spying for the Resistance, decent chap's insipid wife, and the scientist with undiagnosed Aspergers and a long-winded boarding school backstory.
The result of this freedom of information policy is that nothing major is a surprise to the reader, and there are many many scenes of characters discussing and pondering the significance of something that the reader already knows. For instance, the spy, David Fitzgerald, has a wife who suspects he is having an affair. We know he isn't. He's a spy. Thus the late nights at the office and unexpected weekends away. Nonetheless, we have to read long conversations with David's wife's sister discussing her concerns, and long introspections while she tries to make up her mind.
This can be infuriating, especially when the plot itself gets underway and we know exactly what the baddies are doing and planning. It's just a case of watching it all plod along, with very few unanswered questions to hook the reader's interest.
There are no twists and turns. Nobody turns out to be working for someone else. Nobody betrays anyone. Annoyingly, there IS one piece of information kept arbitrarily from us, and that is the Big Secret that the hapless scientist, Frank Muncaster, has inadvertently learned from his drunken brother. Given that we have full access to every passing thought from every viewpoint character, and given that Frank spends most of his time worrying that he'll give the Big Secret away, it feels pretty artificial that we're not told what it is.
When eventually we are, I found it a bit of an anticlimax. There is a lot of weather in this book. Lots of cold, damp, rain and fog. After a while, that began to feel repetitive too. It just wasn't for me, I suppose. The characters are well enough drawn, but I found them all unappealing. And for what it's worth, I think the multiplicity of viewpoints was a mistake, one that stopped the story being in any way exciting.
But I can see that plenty of other readers really appreciated it, so I think this one comes down to personal taste. Jun 11, Roger Brunyate rated it really liked it Shelves: politics , mysteries-kinda. Not So Imaginary All events that take place after p. The moment that the author refers to in his disclaimer is the scene which forms the brilliant climax to Michael Dobbs' Winston's War , the British cabinet meeting at which Neville Chamberlain, the discredited appeaser, resigns and Winston Churchill takes over as Prime Minister.
But in Sansom's book, he doesn't; the job goes instead to Lord Halifax, better connected and the safer bet. Halifax, though, has le Not So Imaginary All events that take place after p. Halifax, though, has less stomach for war, and sues for peace after pulling the British army out of France at Dunkirk. And with that, everything is changed.
Not everything, actually. The England of , when the main part of the novel opens, is very similar to the England I knew growing up, a little shabby, and with life going on much as usual. A few things have changed, of course: the Jewish-owned Lyons Corner Houses are now British Corner Houses, and right-wing politicians such as Mosley and Powell are in the ascendant, though other latterly-famous names such as Butler and Douglas-Home nonetheless have senior positions in the post-treaty government.
The Germans do not occupy Britain, but make no mistake about it, the nation is still very much under their sphere of influence, two examples of which are the tightening Jewish laws, and the ubiquitous presence of armed police. Writing the above, I suddenly wondered about Sansom's audience.
Young though I was, all the names I mentioned were part of my daily awareness, then or later. But what of people who did not grow up in Britain around this time; must they rely on other reading to provide the background against which Sansom's book works so brilliantly? The payoff for Sansom's meticulous research there are 25 pages of appendices is that, for British people of around my generation, it is sobering to see how easily the fascism we associate with foreign countries could have taken root in Britain, even with much the same cast of characters.
It is the detail that brings it home. But what about other readers? Is the story that Sansom offers strong enough to work even for those who know little about the period? He certainly has the political thriller genre pretty much down, with different groups—resistance agents, British and German police, wives and innocent acquaintances—spiralling each other, colliding and bouncing off again, and eventually coming together in a nail-biting climax.
But the book is too long and its central premise is weak; there is no way that the secret held by Frank Muncaster, a timid geologist committed to a mental hospital outside Birmingham, could have been substantial enough to have the Americans, the British, the Resistance, and the Germans all determined to get him to themselves, no matter the cost.
Sansom is good, though, with a lot of the personal details, especially in tracing the gradual shifting of sympathies even in the minds of some of the secondary characters, and in depicting the toll that clandestine activity exacts on marriage and friendship.
But I was always conscious of the artificial construction. The romantic entanglement, for instance, that Sansom introduces to complicate the life of the leading character seemed manufactured rather than organic. And watching the various conflicting forces come together towards a climactic midnight encounter on a deserted pebble beach, I was only too aware that by adjusting a gunshot here or there, the author could bring it to whatever conclusion he wanted.
In the end, I was satisfied—but I should have been caught up in the characters, not watching the writer. After citing numerous historical works as references, Sansom pays enthusiastic homage to one novel: Fatherland by Robert Harris , a book I have not yet read.
In many ways, the two writers are very similar. But though I have never read a Harris book that was less than five stars, this one of Sansom's, I'm afraid, is closer to four.
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I loved the story, was carried along by it and finally finished reading it in the middle of the night. I thought the whole alternate history concept was excellent, and I was drawn into the whole world very well. The politics were convincing.
The bad guys were too. But the central issue that drove the whole plot was, IMO, flawed. I didn't understand at all why the Americans wanted Frank. Yes, he knew his brother's secret. But they had his brother, and they had their own scientists. All they reall I loved the story, was carried along by it and finally finished reading it in the middle of the night. All they really needed was for the danger posed by Frank's knowledge to be neutralised.
Also after all the attention during the novel to Frank not wanting to tell anyone - the scene where he tells David the secret are completely implausible. And also really unnecessary - in fact I think it would work better if we didn't ever know the secret. We had an inkling anyway. But leaving it mysterious wouldn't draw so much attention to the enormous mcguffin shaped plot hole. And I don't know who it was in that key scene at the end, but it certainly wasn't Churchill. The hard decisions we know he took in the war do not lead me me to believe he would be the kind of resistance leader who would spare the sensitivies of one man, compared to the potential benefit to the resistance.
Black dog or no black dog But it was a good read. I rather enjoyed the slow build up of tension in the beginning part of the book - I know that's probably an unusual personal taste. And I didn't mind the exposition - hard to imagine being able to write a book that depends so much on history and uimagine history without it.
The second half though, that's a real pageturner. An excellent read, but flawed. View all 3 comments. Oct 29, Paul rated it really liked it Shelves: books-read It is and in the UK the people are ruled by a puppet government that submitted to the Nazi government in after the disaster of Dunkirk.
Churchill is in hiding, and the anti German feeling and the boldness of the UK resistance is growing week on week. Germany is fighting Russia, still, a long and protracted war that seems to have no end. As his power wains, the jostle b It is and in the UK the people are ruled by a puppet government that submitted to the Nazi government in after the disaster of Dunkirk.
As his power wains, the jostle between the Army and the SS starts for control. The puppet government in Britain finally cedes to the Germans request and starts rounding up Jewish people with prior to deportation to the east.
David is a minor civil servant working in the Dominion department, with a secret that not even his wife knows. He has anti German sympathies and he is approached by his university friend to work for the resistance by providing secret material to them. He befriends another lady in the same department, and surreptitiously obtains her key to the secret cabinet.
He has a couple of close shaves whilst in copying secret documents, but one tiny error leaves him exposed. Following the tragic death of their child, his wife thinks he is having an affair, but when she finds out his real role, and is questioned by the authorities, she is drawn in to the activities of the resistance reluctantly. Frank Muncaster is a scientist and a another university friend of David.
He pushes him out the window, where he breaks his arm. Frank is deemed to be mad, and is sent to a mental hospital for treatment. Both the SS and the resistance realise that he holds the secret to the new weapons that America is developing, and both go to see him and visit his flat.
And so begins a tense race between the resistance cell moving Frank across the country and the authorities trying to track them down until the thrilling ending. Sansom has done a reasonably good job here of a speculative future of a post WWII Britain where Churchill was never made PM and the fascists take over the running of the country. The elements of the plot are good too, from the gloomy despondent population that are slowly being oppressed, but have a glimmer of hope from the resistance under Churchill, to a Germany poised on the edge of civil war.
Well worth reading. Many bad reviews of this but I loved it. Having surrendered in Britain is a satellite of Nazi Germany - not occupied but very much under their control. A junior civil servant gets involved with a plot to rescue an old friend with a deadly secret and all set against the start of the Final Solution reaching England and all Jews being rounded up. Very dark, thought provoking and a rollicking good thriller - Sansom likes to put in extensive background stories for every charactet but this worked Many bad reviews of this but I loved it.
Very dark, thought provoking and a rollicking good thriller - Sansom likes to put in extensive background stories for every charactet but this worked for me. Brilliant premis and high quality read. Jan 27, Inqiad Ali rated it liked it. The Book was okay with me, but it is not as good as the "Winter In Madrid" by the same author. The notion of alternate history looks awesome to me, but the picture which Sansom painted seemed a bit unrealistic to me. First of all, there is the question of who will succeed Hitler after his death.
But in the book, he has died long before , which is premature. The second best candidate, for me, would have been Rommel, but the author just 3 stars. The second best candidate, for me, would have been Rommel, but the author just completely left him out. It should have been somewhere i the 60s, but in the book, he died in December which seems to me a bit early.
Next comes the British picture. If Britain did surrender, things should have been much worse for them, here I must say the author was lenient. But it does seem to me likely that Llyod George would have returned as Prime Minister later in the 40s.
Here, Frank Muncaster's reaction after hearing about the atom bomb seemed exaggerated to me. The reaction seemed to me like a baby who just learnt what a snake can do to humans. And Frank is also portrayed as a scientist, so overall the reaction was unreal and crazy. Lastly, I must tell that Sansom is a truly talented writer, but all he needs to do is to observe the historical things more thoroughly. This book could have been a lot better, but it seemed to me that Sansom had written only about his own political beliefs.
Otherwise, Sansom's writings are Great and i might want to try out his books if i find one. Dec 01, Fiona rated it it was ok Shelves: general-fiction , life-is-too-short. I'd had enough of this book by about a quarter of the way through. The constant flashbacks and reminiscences became annoying interruptions to the flow of the story. I began to wonder if the author was being paid by the word like Dickens because there was so much irrelevant background.
The final straw was when Frank reminisced about his schooldays in Edinburgh. Sansom has Frank's brother and other pupils saying 'disnae' for doesn't and 'ye' for you. It's a private boarding school in Edinburgh, fo I'd had enough of this book by about a quarter of the way through. It's a private boarding school in Edinburgh, for God's sake. The pupils would no more speak like that than Eton pupils would speak Cockney! If you think I'm being pedantic then yes, I am, but it's lack of accuracy such as this that leaves the reader doubting the accuracy of everything else.
Two stars for the premise of the book which was interesting up to a point. Mar 15, happy rated it liked it Shelves: fiction-alt-history.
I found this an interesting premise for an Alt History novel. This sets in motion a chain of events that when France falls 2 months later England quits the war instead of fighting on. Western Europe, including England is dominated by Germany who is fighting an endless war in Russia. England becomes a Vichy state. As the novel opens the Germany is just starting to round up the I found this an interesting premise for an Alt History novel.
As the novel opens the Germany is just starting to round up the Jews in England for shipment to the East. A resistance movement has sprung up, and the main character in the novel, David Fitzgerald, a low level civil servant in the Dominions office, is passing them documents.
He also has a big secret. There are secrets throughout this novel. I really enjoyed the first half of this novel — as the author paints the picture and sets the stage. Mr Sansom does an excellent job of painting the dreary atmosphere of London both with the descriptions of the economic hardships and daily life - He even weaves real life events like the killing fog that happened in the winter of into the plot. At the same time he is trying to accomplish this, the Gestapo and their British allies are also doing the same thing.
Also at pages the novel could use a little editing. One final thing — in his historical note, Mr Sansom goes off on how bad nationalism is and more specifically Scottish Nationalism.
I rate this 3. Jan 14, Paul Fulcher rated it did not like it Shelves: A well researched alternative history marred by being delivered as a tawdry thriller, and with too much of a modern-day political hidden agenda. CJ Sansom has clearly done a lot of research and given a lot of thought to how history might have panned out had Lord Halifax rather than Churchill become Prime Minister in and had Britain gone on to sue for peace following Dunkirk.
Had he simply written a fictional-history of the subsequent events, then I suspect this would have been a 4 star review A well researched alternative history marred by being delivered as a tawdry thriller, and with too much of a modern-day political hidden agenda.
Had he simply written a fictional-history of the subsequent events, then I suspect this would have been a 4 star review. Indeed the best bit of the book is the 10 page or so explanation at the end, which contains everything of value in the pages of the novel.
Unfortunately, however, the main vehicle which he has chosen to set out his alternative history is a poorly written thriller with all of the typical problems of that genre - unrealistic characters, clunky dialogue, reliance on co-incidence and worst of all exposition masquerading as narration.
To give one example, in one scene there is a gratuitous reference to a Church service that the characters drive past, simply so that the author can add in his views on how the Church of England would have reacted to events.
The key plot device - a secret told by a US weapons scientist to his brother - seems also the least well researched part of the book. The medium of fiction also allows him to get in some rather unfair digs at various historical characters Lloyd George, Enoch Powell, Lord Beaverbrook, certain Labour leaders etc based purely on his imagined history of how they would have supported a quasi-Nazi regime.
Indeed his greatest opprobrium is reserved for the Scottish Nationalist Party and, rather bizarrely, the very last pages of his postscript reveal that the main purpose of the novel seems to be to weigh into the current debate on Scottish Independence. May 26, Gary rated it did not like it. This historical fiction by the best selling C. Sansom fits it's market well.
Set in an alternate reality, of 's London, deviating at a very specific point in time 5p. Subsequently Britain surrenders to the threat of Nazi invasion and becomes a puppet state of the Third Reich. The story centres around a you This historical fiction by the best selling C. The story centres around a young man of Irish and hidden Jewish descent who is climbing the ladder in Whitehall while also participating in the resistance movement Led by Churchill as a Charles de Gaulle substitute.
There is a paucity of interesting narrative in the novel, caused by the heavy attention to historical detail and certain ideas therein. This leads me to believe the novel was only written as an excuse to share his views on the upcoming referendum. As such; a pamphlet for BetterTogether would have sufficed.
Mar 16, L. I am a fan of the Shardlake novels and so I was really looking forward to this Sansom novel. I like that his novels are slow burners, that you take time to get to know the characters and become immersed in the plot.
But despite being long, the novel is always a page turner and I'm always slightly despondent when it ends as I know that it'll be another couple of years before another one comes out. This one was the same, I was just hoping for another Shardlake novel but that is just me being selfis I am a fan of the Shardlake novels and so I was really looking forward to this Sansom novel. This one was the same, I was just hoping for another Shardlake novel but that is just me being selfish!
This is an alternative vision of 50s Great Britian after the war, as if Churchill did not take power and we do not win the war in I like that we get to know the characters and the slow creep of danger as they realise that the world they are living in is becoming more and more dangerous.
They go on the run and a dangerous game of cat and mouse ensues to a gripping ending. I liked the mix of fiction and real characters and there is the real feeling of a less benign GB than the one we are used to post-war.
It became a real page-turner and I was gripped throughout. The only criticism is the 'couple who have lost a child' scenario, which I feel has become a bit of a cliche of late. But otherwise, another engaging novel by one of my favourite authors. Oct 29, Gerald Sinstadt rated it it was ok Shelves: fiction-general. Can there be two authors writing under the same name?
C J Sansom's Shardlake books were evocative adventures with vivid invented characters the hunchback lawyer, Barak his henchman, Guy the former monk beside real figures from Tudor England. C J Sansom's Dominion takes the reader back no further than an imagined May to postulate Britain after Hitler has won the war. The research, as in the Shardlake series, has been done exhaustively, but here it is plastered on in great slabs that slow do Can there be two authors writing under the same name?
The research, as in the Shardlake series, has been done exhaustively, but here it is plastered on in great slabs that slow down a hugely overblown story. There is no help from the characters who are at best stereotypes, at worst simply unbelievable. The writing barely rises above the banal. One illustration must serve. This man was cocky, but clever too.
He said, 'No police or intelligence service is infallible. Robert Harris's Fatherland predates the publishing of Dominion by twenty years and sets the bar high. Much too high for Sansom who is at least gracious enough to acknowledge "for me the best alternate history novel ever written.
Nov 23, Ian rated it it was amazing Shelves: historical-fiction , thrillers , a-kindle , favourites. The US stayed neutral as Pearl Harbour never happened. Twelve years later in , Germany is still at war with the Soviet Union, the Holocaust has happened, though covered up and despite the promises made by Hitler about British democracy, Britain is gradually becoming a puppet Nazi state with it's people more and more indoctrinated with In this alternative history of Britain post the 2nd World War, Churchill never became Prime Minister and Britain and Germany made peace in after Dunkirk.
Twelve years later in , Germany is still at war with the Soviet Union, the Holocaust has happened, though covered up and despite the promises made by Hitler about British democracy, Britain is gradually becoming a puppet Nazi state with it's people more and more indoctrinated with nationalist feeling and hatred of minorities, particularly the Jews. After the rigged election which brought Oswald Mosley and his blackshirt fascists fully into mainstream government, Churchill is leading the burgeoning Resistance movement.
I found this tale utterly compelling and it was made to seem all the more believable by the use of an array of real historical figures to populate the British political scene of both government and the Resistance.
Oct 06, Doreen Petersen rated it it was amazing Shelves: fiction. Excellent "what if" book. I really enjoyed it. Jul 26, Bettie rated it liked it Recommended to Bettie by: Pat.
Shelves: e-book , handbag-read , alternative-history , published , wwii , mystery-thriller , spies , winter Bettie's Books Bettie's Books View all 26 comments. Dec 11, L rated it really liked it. This spectacular, provocative thriller will send chills down your spine whilst the historical element brings a sense of nostalgia to bygone fear! Contrary to other works by C. The alternate Britain is an angle that many writers would dare not attempt for history being re-crafted like this, in such a way, is a bold step to take and one that Sansom does perfectly and with much originality alongside staying true to its roots.
It is , and twelve years have passed since Churchill lost to the appeasers and Britain surrendered to Nazi Germany after Dunkirk. As the long German war against Russia continues to rage in the east, the British people find themselves under dark authoritarian rule with the press, radio and television being controlled by a greater force. It is a place where the streets are patrolled by violent auxiliary police, and a time when British Jews face ever greater constraints than they ever did before.
There are also terrible rumors too about what is happening in the basement of the German Embassy at Senate House, which certainly gets you thinking as questions run through your mind… Defiance though, is growing and in Britain, Winston Churchill's Resistance organization is increasingly a thorn in the government's side.
Meanwhile in a Birmingham mental hospital an incarcerated scientist, Frank Muncaster, may hold a secret that could change the balance of the world struggle for ever. Gunther smiled. Though not so many now. A young clerk appeared and took them upstairs in an ancient, creaking lift. Looking through the grille Gunther saw partitioned rooms, cubbyholes, long, dark passages. They were led to a door with the name Mr A. Hubbold picked out in gold letters. Syme introduced himself and showed Hubbold his warrant card.
Then he introduced Gunther as a German colleague. Hubbold started visibly. We are working with our German colleagues. Gunther had to admire the way he took control. Who are you investigating? Hubbold stared at them, eyes still with shock behind his glasses. He has always been hard-working, diligent, quiet. A settled family man.
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