Likewise, whilst this story certainly reminded me of a TV series I saw a couple of years ago called “ SS-GB“, the frequent focus on ordinary, everyday life in the first half of the story lends everything a much more plausibly dystopian atmosphere than the more overt melodrama of a typical “ What if Britain lost WW2?” alternate history story. How the stuffy, formal world of 1950s Britain sits so easily alongside cruel, harsh authoritarianism. The parts of the novel where relatively little actually happens are so chillingly fascinating because of how easily and seamlessly the dystopian fascism of the story blends in with 1950s Britain. A lot of the chilling dystopian horror of this novel comes from how everyday life in the story’s alternate 1950s isn’t that different from the actual 1950s. Yes, it’s very slow-paced, but this is kind of the point. About the first half of the novel is spent introducing the characters, adding atmosphere and explaining all of the backstory, with the second half of the novel being a much more compelling and focused thriller story.Įven so, this isn’t to say that the first half of the novel is bad. One of the first things that I will say about this novel is that, although it is a good novel, it takes quite a while to really get going.

Of course, it also doesn’t take the staff of the German embassy long to realise this too. The resistance realise that Frank might have overheard secret information and begin a plan to smuggle him out of the country. One of David’s old university friends ( called Frank) ends up in an asylum after having a nervous breakdown following a fight with his brother – a scientist who has been working in America. Most of the events of the story take place in London twelve years later ( in 1952) and they involve a civil servant called David, who helps the resistance by copying government documents for them. However, opposition to the puppet government is slowly crushed and the German embassy in London gains a lot of political influence. Britain is allowed to retain control of it’s empire and, for a while, to keep up the pretence of democracy. Without Churchill’s determined leadership, the second world war ends up just being a short and unsuccessful campaign in France and Norway – which ends with Britain surrendering and signing a peace treaty with Germany.Īs part of the treaty, the German military occupies the Isle of Wight and a far-right puppet government ( a historical rogues’ gallery consisting of Lord Beaverbrook, Oswald Mosley, Enoch Powell etc.) takes office in Britain.

The novel takes place in an alternate timeline where, in 1940, Winston Churchill is made Minister Of Defence instead of Prime Minister. This is the 2012 Mantle (UK) hardback edition of “Dominion” that I read.

Dominion cj sansom book review