Half a Crown [Kindle Edition]

Walton's 'Small Change' Trilogy, begun with Farthing, and continued with Ha'penny is brought to a satisfactory, and somewhat surprising conclusion in this book. Unlike its predecessors it does not revolve around a crime. Instead it is focused on the actions of two characters, the commander of Britain's political police, the Watch, Commander Carmichael, and his ward, Elvira Royston, as they grapple with the political and social realities of this alternative Britain of 1960. Carmichael, and his partner/manservant Jack provide continuity with the previous novels, though mention is made of characters from both, and characters from both previous novels make appearances.

Walton plays with alternative history like a musician, bringing in elements from actual history with a slight skew. In Farthing it was the Cliveden Set, in Ha'penny, it was the Mitford sisters; here it is Burgess, minus Maclean, Philby, and Blunt, but elevated. The novel concludes with a twist, as surprising as it is welcome, delivered by a character singularly appropriate for the role.

The concluding volume of an alternative history trilogy in which Britain made peace with Nazi Germany in 1940. The volume recounts the fall of the British authoritarian state through the experience of its 2 protagonists. Walton is a competent writer but this book lacks the best features of its predecessors. The prior books contained some clever plot construction, the first book was a variant of the country house murder mystery, the second a clever play on Hamlet, but this one lacks any such elements. The prior books drew on some historical characters as models for some of the characters but this one does not. The plotting and characterization are workmanlike. Several aspects of the plot are a bit strained. As an alternative history, this book doesn't do very well, with little interesting detail or effort to flesh out the proposed alternative path of history.

Jo Walton's "Small Change" trilogy is a challenging one to classify. Her previous novels in the series, and , easily fit a number of genres - alternate history, murder mystery, suspense novel thriller - without entirely being defined by any one of them. This book, the final novel in her series, is no different. Less a murder mystery than a political thriller, it takes her concept of a Britain descending towards fascism and moves it a decade into the future. By 1960, Britain has been ruled by politician-turned-dictator Mark Normanby for a decade. Jews and other perceived undesirables are frequently rounded up and sent for disposal to the Continent, where the Nazis have triumphed in their long-running war against the Soviets. Most Britons have accepted fascist rule, with a police force that now regularly tortures suspects, and a body called the Watch which serves as a domestic Gestapo; some have even come to believe it to be beneficial. Yet not everyone has submitted to the regime. Among the ranks f the few resisters is Peter Carmichael, a former Scotland Yard inspector turned secret policeman, who runs a clandestine organization that struggles to help rescue people when possible. Yet he is faced with the twin challenge of a potential coup by the Duke of Windsor and the discovery of his secret life by his ward Elvira Royston, the orphaned daughter of his former police partner. Together they threaten to unravel his clandestine work, possibly even at the cost of his life.

As with the other volumes, Walton develops her story by alternating between the first-person account of the naive Elvira and a third person narrative focusing on Carmichael. Yet there is no great mystery in this volume but a dual plot focusing on the emergence of the totalitarian "Ironsides" movement and Elvira's growing exposure to the realities of her world. Without the mystery, the emphasis is on suspense, yet Walton comes up short here. While she implies that her alternate Britain is a terrifying place, little of this seems to come out in the novel itself. Instead, everything seems almost laughably tame, from a secret policeman who is astonishing indiscreet and easily caught unawares to a underground coup that is hardly anything to fear. All of this saps the suspense from the story, making it a somewhat unsatisfying conclusion to an otherwise enjoyable and well-realized series.