Ha'penny

[sawyl]

I finally found time over the weekend to sit down and catch up on some of my outstanding reading. I started with Jo Walton's Ha'penny, her sequel to the wonderful Farthing.

It is 1949, a few weeks after the political coup that swept the fascists of the Farthing Set to power. Viola Lark, one of the notorious Larkin sisters, has just accepted the lead in a cross-cast version of Hamlet when she learns that Lauria Gilmore, the actress cast as Gertrude, has been killed in an explosion. Sent to investigate, Inspector Carmichael quickly discovers that the blast was caused by an attempt to create a home-made bomb but, unaware that both Hitler and Prime Minister Normanby are scheduled to attend the first night of Hamlet, he is unable to determine Gilmore's motives.

In the middle of learning her dialogue, Viola is annoyed when her sister Siddy turns up and calls on her family loyalties. After agreeing to go to tea with Lord Scott at his country house, Viola finds herself trapped into replacing Gilmore in a second bomb plot after IRA man Devlin Connelly makes her an offer she can't refuse. As Viola leads a split life, caught up in Hamlet's dilemmas by day and not quite believing in her assassin's existence by night, Carmichael doggedly continues to follow the threads of the Gilmore case, gradually unravelling the conspiracy.

Ha'penny is a worthy successor to Farthing, albeit one cast in the mould of a John Buchan thriller rather than a crime mystery. As with Farthing the narrative switches chapter by chapter from Viola's first person perspective to the Inspector's third person narrative, allowing the bomb plot to unspool along side the police attempts to solve the case.

The characters are excellent and Viola is likable lead. She is shallow in just the right way, never really believing in the reality of the bomb plot, despite Devlin's constant presence, whilst at the same time immersing herself in the fictional minutiae of Hamlet's life and character. Carmichael too is excellent; concerned that the Thirkie case has irredeemably contaminated his soul but still determined to do his very best without regard for the possible consequences, good or ill, that might stem from the resolution of the bomb plot.

Wonderful, clever, thought provoking. Seriously. I can't wait for the last novel in the sequence.