Review: Fatherland by Robert Harris

Guest post by Evelyn Robinson.

Alternate history is often thought of as a niche genre, with limited mass appeal due to the historical knowledge required to fully appreciate it, yet Robert Harris brought the genre to the forefront of mainstream attention with his 1992 novel Fatherland.

A detective novel set in an alternate post-Second World War world, where Nazi Germany emerged victorious, the novel captured the public's imagination and emerged as a best-seller in the United Kingdom. Following its release, the book was subsequently translated into thirty different languages and, at the time of writing this review, it has sold over six million copies worldwide, making it one of the most popular alternate history books of all time. Seeing as the book was written twenty years ago, fans of the alternate history genre should look for cheap book deals and get hold of what has been described as one of the great political thrillers of all time at a discount price.

Background to the Novel

Perhaps the most explored idea in the alternate history genre is the concept of an Axis victory in the Second World War and the subsequent effect that would have had on the world. It is a theme explored by Frederic Mullally in Hitler Has Won and Harris readily admits he took inspiration from several other authors who had explored this concept. As the reader progresses through the book, we find out how and where the history in Fatherland deviates from the real-life history.

In Harris' world, the Nazis pushed back the Soviet army and were able to cut them off from petroleum supplies by 1943. In 1944 their U-Boat campaign forced the British to surrender and in 1946, Nazi Germany tests its first atomic bomb and makes a demonstration of force to the United States, firing a missile above New York City in order to demonstrate the long-range capability Germany possesses.

In the aftermath of a German victory in Europe and a United States victory over Japan, Germany, rather than the Soviet Union, become involved in a Cold War with the U.S. and also remain involved in a guerrilla war with what remains of the Soviet Union.

Robert Harris expertly sets the scene of a 1960s in which the 'Greater German Reich' menacingly incorporates Alsace-Lorraine, Austria, Poland, Luxembourg, Ukraine, Belarus and much of the western Soviet Union. Berlin emerges as the biggest city in the world, with a population of over ten million people and Adolf Hitler lives well into his 70s. Meanwhile, Harris explains that Winston Churchill and Elizabeth II have been forced into living in exile in Canada.

Plot Details

Although the background to Harris' post-war world is firmly established, it acts as a backdrop for the plot of the novel and real-life characters like Adolf Hitler are only really mentioned by name. The main plot of the novel centers around Xavier March, a fictional detective investigating the death of Josef Buhler, a high-ranking Nazi official.

Xavier soon discovers that there is a government conspiracy designed to murder the Nazi Party officials involved in the planning of the Holocaust. In Harris' world, the Holocaust is explained away by the Nazis as the relocation of the Jewish population to an area where travel and communication methods remain poor and, despite many suspecting the realities, most of the German population are unaware of the true extent of Nazi crimes.

In the process of his investigation, Xavier March meets an American journalist, Charlotte Maguire, and together they uncover a plot by the Nazi Party to ensure their crimes remained secret ahead of an upcoming meeting between Adolf Hitler and President Kennedy, where it was expected that superpower relations would significantly improve.

March and Maguire are then faced with the task of exposing the evidence to the world, in the face of a Gestapo operation to prevent them from doing so.

Final Thoughts

Throughout Fatherland, Robert Harris forces the reader to consider the reality that a Nazi victory in the Second World War was not an impossibility and, though it was not the first nor last book to examine the concept, he is able to expertly and imaginatively paint a picture of what post-war Europe could have looked like if the Allies had failed to halt Adolf Hitler's attempt for domination.

The totalitarian society that exists in Harris' Greater German Reich is reminiscent of George Orwell's 1984, yet the standard of living for most German people in the novel is actually very high. It is a society which, largely, remains blissfully ignorant to the extent of the crimes committed by the Nazi regime and it is primarily through the investigative work of the central character, Xavier March, that the true horrors of what lies beneath the surface are explored. Harris encourages the reader to consider the possibility of an even more controlling Nazi regime, an even greater number of Jews killed during the Holocaust and a largely happy German public in a reality that seems somewhat unbelievable to us today, yet was was perhaps not a million miles away from actually occurring.

Sample Something a Little Alternative

Guest post by Alison Morton.

I stumbled on AHWU almost by accident and was thrilled to find a welcoming site full of news, articles and, best of all, book reviews. I read, absorbed and bought several recommended books. And have enjoyed them greatly.

Then it struck me. Not only on AHWU, but on other sites and even on the mighty Zon, many books designated as alternate history involved war of some kind, usually on a world scale. Troops were deployed, desperate defense of loyal enclaves made, resources from another time or planet used to change the course of history. Gripping stuff.

But in parallel to mainline historical fiction, shouldn't alternate history examine social, cultural and political events within an alternate historical society? I'm thinking here of Kingsley Amis' The Alteration which is firmly set within its world. Both title and dilemma of the story neatly reflect the altered society and the potential alteration of one of the characters within it. Like any good book, it has terrific characters, atmosphere, a heart-aching choice, sacrifice, the instinct for survival, tension, etc. The beautifully written world bustles with altered technology and yet retains familiar historical details: express barouches, seven-hour transport between London and Rome, gaslight, photograms and airships yet ermines, silks, velvet, fustian, servants and apprentices. The language is historical and structured, such as you would find in C J Sansom or Ann Lyle, but it never disguises people’s motivations or emotions. The most disturbing thing is how convincing this alternative world is.

Few people need introduction to Michael Chabon's The Yiddish Policeman’s Union, featuring the world-weary Meyer Landsman, a detective with murder and chess dilemmas. A melancholy tone is relieved by glimpses of optimism and impossible bent-back-on-itself humor  Strong streaks of realism and universal dilemmas are woven into very rich world-building. Also, the plot is more than slightly mad. Again, no wars or forces from the future, just people in their world working through their problems against a background of political pressure and murder.

An equally richly described world, but without any comic tone, is found in Keith Thomas' Pavane, where after the assassination of Elizabeth I, England is constrained in the grip of the post-Armada Catholic church. Individual personal stories set from the 1960s to the 21st century in a semi-feudal England are linked through generations. The most advanced form of transport is the steam-powered traction engine; long-distance communication is achieved by the use of mechanical semaphore towers. But rebellion is in the air...

The classic, Robert Harris' Fatherland; what praise can I heap on it that isn't there already?  All policeman Xavier March wants to do is investigate the discovery of a dead body in a lake near Berlin's most prestigious suburb. That and survive in a corrupt society. Attempting to stay one step ahead of the Gestapo and racing against time, he uncovers a shocking secret which chills to the bone. The alternate history setting is impeccably drawn, with descriptions of Speer's thousand-year Reich vision of Berlin and celebrations of Hitler's 75th birthday, but the spare, clever writing,  tension and plot are essentially those of a crime thriller.

Although different in complexity and scope, but all the same mirroring the domestic rather than global, I recently read Dinah of Seneca by Corinna Lawson. The story unfolds using the alternate timeline as its natural setting. The Roman Empire of this tenth century stretches from Russia in the East to a new continent in the West. But a new continent brings new threats to their rule. The Roman garrison in Seneca, located in modern-day New York, lacks the supplies and men needed to defeat an alliance of native Mahicans and immigrant Vikings.

Dinah, a former slave trained in espionage, had hoped Seneca would be the start of a new life. Instead, she's pulled back into conflict, both political and very personal. If Seneca is to survive, Dinah must reconcile her allegiance to Rome with her chance to create her own destiny in the New World with Gerhard, the Viking leader. The novel focuses heavily on character interaction and Dinah is a sharp and mostly unbiased observer. The book also has sufficient spycraft, politics and action scenes to satisfy most readers but also plenty of emotional punch. In short, it’s a romance in an AH setting.

So here I've noted a few books which are firmly fastened in other genres: literary, historic, crime thriller, romance. I like time travel, timeslip and a good war story and these along with steampunk are perceived to be the staples of alternate history fiction, but I wonder if AH widened its scope, stretching out to embrace other genres, it would entice more readers from the fixed world to sample something a little alternative.

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Alison Morton writes Roman-themed thrillers with an alternative history setting and hopes to publish the first of a trilogy early next year. She muses on writing, Romans and alternate/alternative history at her blog.