Ha'penny

In a chilling alternate 1949, Jo Walton's "Ha'penny" plunges into a Britain that has embraced fascism, ruled by a pro-Axis government and allied with Hitler's Germany. The fragile facade of this totalitarian regime is shattered by a devastating bomb blast in London, pulling the brilliant yet morally compromised Inspector Peter Carmichael of Scotland Yard into a high-stakes investigation. What begins as a search for terrorists quickly unravels into a labyrinthine conspiracy, revealing an unlikely alliance of staunch British patriots and hardened IRA gunmen, all united by a singular, audacious goal: the assassination of both the British Prime Minister and Adolf Hitler himself. Amidst pervasive domestic espionage, state suppression, and the haunting echoes of lost democracy, a desperate band of idealists orchestrates a perilous plot, blackmailing a celebrated actress whose unwitting involvement becomes crucial to their revolutionary aims. From the bustling, working-class theatre seats to the grim symbolism of ha'pennies covering dead men's eyes, Carmichael's relentless pursuit intertwines with the conspirators' desperate struggle, drawing readers into an inexorable cascade of events leading to a truly stunning and thought-provoking conclusion.