recommended

slow at times, the story as a whole is captivating and thrilling.
difficult to read at times in that horrible way you feel when realising how realistic this alternative history could have been

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Downton + Christie meet alternate WWII history.

What made the experience of listening to Farthing the most enjoyable?

The dual narrators were both superb! Bianca Amato's ever so, ever so posh reading of the posh country "gal", Lucy, who is in love with the wrong man, is great. I was rooting for Lucy and her decent husband from the start. But its equally matched by John Keating's reading of Inspector Carmichael the intelligent inspector who is sent to solve the murder at the country house Farthing. He's a believable character who is tasked into delving into other people's secrets when he has secret's of his own.

What other book might you compare Farthing to, and why?

The obvious comparisons would be SS-GB by Len Deighton and Dominion by CJ Sansom as both these books are set during WWII but in an alternate time. However these two books deal with a Nazi invasion and this book is set in a world where the 'Farthing Peace" stalled the Nazi's at The English Channel. Please don't be

Which scene did you most enjoy?

There isn't really a stand out scene but its great to see how both narrators begin to piece together the facts together and they realise the daunting truth.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Once again there isn't a particular scene but you can't help be moved by Lucy's love for David. How she chose to leave the stifling world of the upper classes to marry a man that her peers felt was a lesser man for being Jewish. The casual anti semitism and David's stoic refusal to be bowed by it, show him to be a far better person than the blue bloods of the "Farthing" set.

Any additional comments?

Please don't be put off by the term "Alternative History" this book is grounded in a very real and cruel world. If Churchill hadn't decided to carry on the fight in WWII, this could have easily been the course our country's history could have taken. The first part of book could be any closed room murder mystery written in the 20's or 30's its only later in the book that the book begins to resemble a 70's conspiracy thriller. Its excellent please give it a whirl!

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1 person found this helpful

Clumsy, stereotypical, dreadful narrators

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

Nothing...it seems very amateur...poor characterization, anachronistic speech, badly researched, badly read.

Has Farthing put you off other books in this genre?

Only by this author

Who might you have cast as narrator instead of John Keating and Bianca Amato ?

Anyone who naturally spoke British English ...jarring accents, wrong emphasis, words mispronounced...irritating.

What character would you cut from Farthing?

All of them...stereotypes with nothing interesting to offer.

Any additional comments?

Interesting premise but excecuted badly. Pebbles of 'historical' facts dropped in to a puddle of stereotypes. The readers leave a lot to be desired, accents slip, constantly jarring.

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1 person found this helpful

Disappointing

An exploration of a possible Britain and wider British Empire that had not been devastated by WWII would be a fascinating subject for an alternate history novel. Sadly this book is not that. It is eye rolling nonsense. Preposterous English aristocrats plot against the Jews in England, whilst they're still being rounded up and gassed by the Nazis in 1949. Not a very good alternate history by any measure. To be fair despite the awful story the readers do a perfectly good job, and can't be faulted. I would not recommend this book to anyone, and certainly won't be wasting a penny on the other books in this series.

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