Tämä sivusto käyttää evästeitä palvelujen toimittamiseen, toiminnan parantamiseen, analytiikkaan ja (jos et ole kirjautunut sisään) mainostamiseen. Käyttämällä LibraryThingiä ilmaiset, että olet lukenut ja ymmärtänyt käyttöehdot ja yksityisyydensuojakäytännöt. Sivujen ja palveluiden käytön tulee olla näiden ehtojen ja käytäntöjen mukaista.
One summer weekend in 1949--but not our 1949--the well-connected "Farthing set," a group of upper-crust English families, enjoy a country retreat. Lucy is a minor daughter in one of those families; her parents were both leading figures in the group that overthrew Churchill and negotiated peace with Herr Hitler eight years before. Despite her parents' evident disapproval, Lucy is married--happily--to a London Jew. It was therefore quite a surprise to Lucy when she and her husband David found themselves invited to the retreat. It's even more startling when, on the retreat's first night, a major politician of the Farthing set is found gruesomely murdered, with abundant signs that the killing was ritualistic. It quickly becomes clear to Lucy that she and David were brought to the retreat in order to pin the murder on him. Major political machinations are at stake, including an initiative in Parliament, supported by the Farthing set, to limit the right to vote to university graduates. But whoever's behind the murder, and the frame-up, didn't reckon on the principal investigator from Scotland Yard being a man with very private reasons for sympathizing with outcasts and looking beyond the obvious. As the trap slowly shuts on Lucy and David, they begin to see a way out--a way fraught with peril in a darkening world."… (lisätietoja)
I picked either the worst or best time in world politics to read a story about the growth of fascism. It is well done though, not too angst-inducing to pick up again when I'd put it down. I appreciate the idea of looking at how easily we can wind up on this road (as of course many have), put into the context of the only fascist system so many people are aware of. I don't know that it was ...enough... to stay in my mind forever, but I'm interested to see how it's developed in the following books. ( )
Un fin de semana del verano de 1949, el círculo de Farthing, un grupo bien relacionado de la flor y nata de las familias inglesas, disfruta de unos días en el campo. Lucy es la hija menor de una de esas familias. Sus padres fueron destacados personajes dentro del grupo que derrocó a Churchill y negoció la paz con Hitler ocho años antes. Lucy está felizmente casada con un judío londinense, a pesar de la manifiesta desaprobación de sus padres; por eso fue muy sorprendente que les invitaran a ella y a su esposo, David, a pasar esos días en el campo. Y resulta mucho más sorprendente cuando, la primera noche, un importante político del círculo de Farthing resulta asesinado de forma espantosa, con numeroso signos que apuntan a un muerte ritual.
Loved this, an Agatha Christie style murder set in an alternate history - what a great premise and it really paid off with the country house and wide cast of characters but the sinister undertones beneath the jolly hockey sticks were what really set it apart. Found the ending a bit of a cliff hanger - not sure if it really works as a stand-alone, even though the murderer is revealed, but perhaps it isn't meant to. It doesn't matter anyway as I am looking forward to the next one... ( )
Tiedot englanninkielisestä Yhteisestä tiedosta.Muokkaa kotoistaaksesi se omalle kielellesi.
Every farthing of the cost,
All the dreaded cards foretell,
Shall be paid, but from this night,
Not a whisper, not a thought,
Not a kiss nor look be lost.
—W.H. Auden, "Lullaby (Lay Your Sleeping Head, My Love)" (1937)
All the brass instruments and big drums in the world cannot turn "God Save the King" into a good tune, but on the very rare occasions when it is sung in full it does spring to life in the two lines:
Confound their politics,
Frustrate their knavish tricks! And, in fact, I had always imagined that this second verse is habitually left out because of a vague suspicion on the part of the Tories that these lines refer to themselves.
—George Orwell, "As I Please" (December 31, 1943)
Omistuskirjoitus
Tiedot englanninkielisestä Yhteisestä tiedosta.Muokkaa kotoistaaksesi se omalle kielellesi.
This novel is for everyone who has ever studied any monstrosity of history, with the serene satisfaction of being horrified while knowing exactly what was going to happen, rather like studying a dragon anatomised upon a table, and then turning around and finding the dragon's present-day relations standing close by, alive and ready to bite.
Ensimmäiset sanat
Tiedot englanninkielisestä Yhteisestä tiedosta.Muokkaa kotoistaaksesi se omalle kielellesi.
It started when David came in from the lawn absolutely furious.
Sitaatit
Viimeiset sanat
Tiedot englanninkielisestä Yhteisestä tiedosta.Muokkaa kotoistaaksesi se omalle kielellesi.
Carmichael waved once to the child and walked away up the dirty London street.
One summer weekend in 1949--but not our 1949--the well-connected "Farthing set," a group of upper-crust English families, enjoy a country retreat. Lucy is a minor daughter in one of those families; her parents were both leading figures in the group that overthrew Churchill and negotiated peace with Herr Hitler eight years before. Despite her parents' evident disapproval, Lucy is married--happily--to a London Jew. It was therefore quite a surprise to Lucy when she and her husband David found themselves invited to the retreat. It's even more startling when, on the retreat's first night, a major politician of the Farthing set is found gruesomely murdered, with abundant signs that the killing was ritualistic. It quickly becomes clear to Lucy that she and David were brought to the retreat in order to pin the murder on him. Major political machinations are at stake, including an initiative in Parliament, supported by the Farthing set, to limit the right to vote to university graduates. But whoever's behind the murder, and the frame-up, didn't reckon on the principal investigator from Scotland Yard being a man with very private reasons for sympathizing with outcasts and looking beyond the obvious. As the trap slowly shuts on Lucy and David, they begin to see a way out--a way fraught with peril in a darkening world."
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Google Books — Ladataan...
"Farthing" Group Discussion
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