Cover Image: Interregnum

Interregnum

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I was not able to get interested in this book and I did not finish it. The characters and the plot were not able to catch or keep my attention.

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There is an increasing interest in alternate histories, evidenced by the fact HBO, Amazon and the BBC has each recently aired a series, respectively titled Watchmen, Hunters and Noughts + Crosses. Although unrelated in terms of subject matter, evidence for this upsurge can arguably be attributed to the presidency of Donald Trump, for the propagation of “alternative facts” by his Administration has led – academic Patrick A. McCarthy reminds subscribers of Science Fiction Studies journal – to a resurgence in popularity of George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949).

The populist’s “America First” agenda has also boosted sales of other, more specific – pedants turn away – counterfactual/alternate/dystopian novels such as It Can’t Happen Here (1935) and The Plot Against America (2004) and – given Trump’s narcissist yearning to replicate the stadium rallies of fascist leaders of yore – led some commentators with a penchant for clickbait to engage in reductio ad Hitlerum. The counterfactual of a Germany victory in the Second World War remains the most fertile ground for writers, however, for out of which has grown a lush industry fictionalising a Nazi-occupied Britain, one of the earliest being the film It Happened Here (1964). This was followed by two well-received novels: Len Deighton’s SS-GB (1978) and Robert Harris’s Fatherland (1992), both of which were adapted – with varying success – for television. Whilst the same could happen with Jim Ring’s debut novel Interregnum, I’d caution booksellers not to overstock. Reasons why will follow an outline of the plot.

The year is 1946, the month January, and Britain has been under Nazi rule for five-odd years, ever since the retreat of Dunkirk, where approximately 750,000 British and French troops died or were captured on the beaches of northern France. With the coast clear in the Summer of 1940 the Nazi juggernaut rolled into Britain, whereupon the signing of the Armistice on 1 August Reinhard Heydrich and Oswald Mosley were installed as Reichskommissar and deputy respectively of the newest Nazi satellite within the Greater German Reich, encompassing all between the Atlantic and the Urals. The former King and Queen (with the Abdication reversed, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor are King Edward VIII and Queen Wallis), together with Winston Churchill, had managed to flee to Canada in advance yet their teenage daughters – Elizabeth and Margaret – were caught by the Wehrmacht and imprisoned in the Tower of London. The Deighton-like mission to free the pair is the vortex through which a British double agent, Germans and even Americans – initially a neutral actor – are sucked in. The question is: are the heirs to the British throne dispensable when a US city is faced with obliteration by a V2 rocket, the forerunner of a nuclear missile?

Events surrounding the February Rising of 1946 are chronicled by General Max Quick (Chief of the Imperial General Staff during the Occupation) in a memoir which is unearthed in 2000, edited and published by Ring (a genuine biographer) in an alternative world where the phony Hitler Diaries are believed and the teaching of collaborationist history is proscribed in schools across the country and continental Europe. Given Ring’s previous works of non-fiction it’s unsurprising his attention is drawn to detailing the unfolding geo-strategic situation, specifically Germany’s progress on the Eastern Front and America’s war in the Far East, yet he neglects to describe would-be hellish totalitarian life, with only fleeting reference to ‘Wehrmacht field-grey’ filling the tea-rooms; there’s little mention of jackbooted SS patrolling the streets or Jews and political undesirables being sent to concentration/internment camps. The failure to create a sense of place much beyond a statue of Hitler standing atop of Nelson’s column in Trafalgar Square and a Swastika-draped Whitehall hampers the suspension of disbelief required, especially in respect of overturning the yoke of Nazism as early as 1946 (even minus the Führer), principally because Ring confines Resistance efforts to a mere couple of sentences pertaining to assassination attempts and the writer of a surreptitious pamphlet. (This isn’t a high-ended criticism, for as works by Catherine Gallagher, Tim Tate and Neil Storey illustrate, pro-Nazi members of the upper classes – aided and abetted by goose-stepping members of the British Union of Fascists – would’ve formed a considerable cadre of collaborators to provide a firm(er) footing of fascism, even if not comparable with Quisling Norway or Vichy France.)

Notwithstanding sequences of heightened drama, like when sailing upon the Atlantic Ocean – scenes evocatively described – little page-turning suspense is stirred, compounded no doubt by unsharpened characterisation playing second fiddle to technical minutiae, which generates a disconnect between the author and reader, thereby causing the latter to potentially miss the veiled love story. Featured locations such as Sandringham and Blenheim Palace will delight fans of Downton Abbey, to be sure, while the international cast of historical personae is likely to appeal to readers beyond British shores. Yet this flies in the face of the (unappealing) dustjacket. Consequently, those wanting a well-crafted hypothetical world where Germany is, alas, victorious during the Second World War should not look beyond the detective-spy thrillers by Messrs. Deighton and Harris.

In Interregnum, Ring displays admirable period-detail research and a competent hand although a good idea is poorly executed, meaning fans of alternate histories should bypass the 262-page book and hope the filming rights are purchased by either HBO, Amazon or the BBC.

I would like to acknowledge the assistance of Patrick A. McCarthy, Professor of English at the University of Miami, who kindly took the time to photocopy his review essay in Science Fiction Studies journal.

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We've been here before.

A competent, Buchan-esque, thriller set in the oft-visited alternate history zone of; 'What if Germany had won WWII'. There are a couple of slip-ups in detail that might hamper the necessary suspension of disbelief and there's no real feeling of depth to the narrative, otherwise it's steady-as-she-goes with senior and titled chaps doing the thinking and nary a look in for the lower orders.
**
Thanks to NetGalley and WriteSideLeft for this ARC

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Wow! What an astonishing book. It had me gripped from the get go. Very cleverly it starts out with the newly found documents of a WW2 general mentioning one or two things that made me think 'ooh, I never knew that happened, how interesting' before I realised that I was reading the alternative history, but by then I was hooked. No going back. Although I read it over a weekend, it was only probably a few hours. Not my usual kind of book at all, but I was completely engrossed.

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This is a good 'what if' story, a memoir depicting the loss of World War II and the victory of Adolf Hitler, who is then assassinated in London. It's not entirely beyond the scope of comprehension that this could realistically have been an outcome of World War II, so I was invested in the idea. The writer does a good job of bringing to life many extremely famous people of the era, the princesses Elizabeth and Margaret, Wallis Simpson, Roosevelt. It's an interesting take, but I can't help feeling that the memoir element removed a chance to view the 'big picture' of the story. I'm not sure I needed Sir Max Quick's thoughts, as an overarching approach might have serviced the reader better and been able to add more value and detail to the world. Nonetheless, very interesting!

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honestly i have got to 10% in this, it is pure rubbish. The narrative has no focus, skips all over the place and leaves the reader to guess just what is going on. I cannot rate this even 1 star and still be truthfull but there is no allowance to rate it zero which is more than it deserves

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Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. Great story line but poo execution. This was written in the style of 'The Third World War' by Sir John Hackett and the earlier 'The Invasion of 1910' by William Tufnell Le Queux. These stories need to move along briskly and this one did not. Some harsh editing would do wonders for this book.

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Thank you to Netgalley for allowing me to read this for an honest review.

Ok so I picked this one up because one of my favourite things is history surrounding WWII. I think I know lots about it and so a book based on alternative historical events I thought would be such a perfect read for me. It seems I don’t know enough!

Interregnum is based in 1946, with Britain being occupied by the Nazi regime, Churchill and the King have fled to Canada and the princesses Margaret and Elizabeth are being kept prisoner in the Tower of London. That is until the February rising where Hitler is assassinated and the Nazi empire struggle to keep control of their empire.

Sounds great right!?

However, for me the story was great in principle but in writing it was just a bit lacking! Hitler was assassinated pretty early in the book and it became a story of just following the princesses about the world whilst they are passed from nation to nation. Honestly no idea what was going on. Then all of a sudden we are at Faslane getting an atomic bomb as well as the princesses. Totally confused!

I do think this might be my own issue though! The book is written as a memoir type which makes it feel very authentic as if it is an actual piece of historical literature. However, because of this I thought it was very hard to follow! Also, I know lots about history but nothing about the types of boats, planes and other vehicles which may be used. And these were spoken about A LOT! Maybe too much actually!

Simply put... too much detail not enough plot! There was a love story also that I just kind of missed! I will say that if you can understand these things you may enjoy it... as there does seem to be a lot of action! It just got lost in things I don’t understand! It’s a bit of a very niche reading group I would say; and surprisingly I am not a part of it.

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I got Interregnum by Jim Ring from Netagalley for a fair and honest review

I requested Interregnum from Netgalley has I have always enjoyed books that either tried to change history or are straight alternative history story.

This novel is set in the UK in 1946, in an alternative time line where the Germans invaded and conquered Britain, at the start of the war. Ruling Britain is Heydrich and under him Edward Mosley, even thought King George VI and his wife, along with Winston Churchill, have escaped to Canada. However The Germans Have Returned Edward VIII along with his wife on the thrown, and are holding the heir princess Elizabeth and her and her sister princess Margaret

When the Germans finely beat the Soviet Union after hitting Moscow a number of times with the V rockets To celebrate this victory the, Germans hold a parade in London which Hitler attends and his blown and killed.

This story is written as a memoir of General Sir Max Quick, chief of the imperial general staff, of the British army under the German occupiers. This style made the novel more like reading something from the history section of the library rather than a novel. While this style gave the book a gravitas that a normal alternative history novel did, the downside was that it seemed stuffy and dry to read.

The plot of the book with the Leadership of the Third Rich coming apart as soon as Hitler died seemed possible, however why was he in London to mark victory over the Soviet Union, is something that grated on me.

What the book did well though is one of the things that I enjoy when I read alternative history book, which is looking for the real historical figures and seeing how the author fits them in to this new world, and in this way I think the author did a good job.

This is one of those books for me that the idea was much better than the writing, in my opinion, as the way it was written as a memoir, was not something I enjoyed as it seemed dry to me, However if you are a person who likes reading autobiographies of famous generals of World War II, then this would be something that I think you would enjoy. In addition if you like alternative history novels then still give this one a try as Jim Ring as written a realistic one in Interregnum.

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Interregnum refers to that period in the life of a country when it is without, or more accurately, between government(s). In a fanciful case, and that’s what this novel deals with, fancy, we could project that it’s the period between sanity and insanity, and back to sanity.
If you’ve read the synopsis it’s clear that we are to suppose that the Third Reich overcome Britain and most of Europe and rule with some sort of loose Occupation where subversives can operate freely.
Are we to have it then that Churchill will never get to make his now legendary “Never before…” speech?. That he fled cringing to Canada in the wake of a disastrous stand against Chambelain, and Halifax?. That the V for Victory sign turned into a thumbs down?
I hope not. However, this is a work of fiction and as such is well written and viable without being outstanding. Mr. Ring leans on as many genuine characters as he does fictitious ones in an effort to give the plot unnecessary credibility and historical substance.
Thanks to publisher WriteSideLeft and NetGalley for the ARC.

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CARRY ON, OLD CHAP!
I always believed the easiest plot strategy to fashion was to alter a Real-World place in time with a mythological “what if” because who can argue the accuracy, lunacy or finality of such a premise?
This literary journey, in fact, is the itinerary taken by this novel, but unfortunately, even a bizarre alternative to History needs to be well crafted and reasonable from chapter to chapter as it winds its way to a completed whole.
Hitler is assassinated in London early in Chapter One, and a few hours later our heroes embark on a dark and misty evening on the Thames to rescue the young heir to the British throne and deliver her safely to Canada. Why? Because the vile Hun has conquered England and the nation must be saved!
Our handful of heroes, both male and female are cut from the same cloth as almost every stereotypical British upper-crust military type ever conceived in print or film, with nary a burp or delivery of internal gas amongst them. Jolly good fun, and all. “Shall we save the Empire, Kit, and then have a go at being first on the Moon?”
Real names, titles and locales are dropped throughout this tome, to add, I suspect, authenticity to a most far-fetched fairy tale. I’d give the author an “A” for imagination, a “B” for historical perspective and a D- for keeping the reader intellectually involved and motivated to turn to the next page.

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