Dominion

A Compulsive, Alternate-History Spy Thriller from the Bestselling Author of Dissolution

De: C. J. Sansom

Narrado por: Daniel Weyman

'Tremendous' – The Guardian

'I just fell in love with it' – Stephen King

'Exciting, sophisticated and moving' – Sunday Times

Set in a reimagined 1950s Britain, Dominion is a gripping, haunting spy thriller – and a poignant love story. From the master of the historical novel and author of Dissolution, C.J. Sansom.

1952. Twelve years have passed since Churchill lost to the appeasers and Britain surrendered to Nazi Germany after Dunkirk. As the long German war against Russia rages on in the east, the British people find themselves under dark authoritarian rule: the press, radio and television are controlled; the streets patrolled by violent auxiliary police and British Jews face ever greater constraints. There are terrible rumours too about what is happening in the basement of the German Embassy at Senate House.

Defiance, though, is growing. In Britain, Winston Churchill's Resistance organization is increasingly a thorn in the government's side. And in a Birmingham mental hospital an incarcerated scientist, Frank Muncaster, may hold a secret that could change the balance of the world struggle for ever.

Civil Servant David Fitzgerald, secretly acting as a spy for the Resistance, is given the mission to rescue his old friend Frank and get him out of the country. Before long he, together with a disparate group of Resistance activists, will find themselves fugitives in the midst of London's Great Smog – as David's wife Sarah finds herself drawn into a world more terrifying than she ever could have imagined. And hard on their heels is Gestapo Sturmbannfuhrer Gunther Hoth, brilliant, implacable hunter of men . . .

'Absorbing, mordant and written with a passionate persuasiveness' – Independent on Sunday

Reseñas de la Crítica

C. J. Sansom takes a break from his Shardlake series to offer Dominion, an absorbing, thoughtful, spy-politico thriller set in the fog-ridden London of 1952 . . . Part adventure, part espionage, all encompassed by terrific atmosphere and a well-argued “it might have been”. (Marcel Berlins)

An intriguing thriller set in an alternative Britain under the Nazis cunningly reanimates the post-war years as they might have been . . . The tale he sets within his parallel universe is at once exciting, sophisticated and moving. There will be few better historical novels published this year.

This is a big novel with traces of a thriller, in which the good are good and the bad are very bad indeed . . . For readers who enjoy a grown-up adventure story <i>Dominion</i> is evocative, alarming and richly satisfying

Masterly . . . sketched with hallucinatory clarity . . . Sansom, whose Tudor mysteries showed his feeling for the plight of good people in a brutal, treacherous society, builds his nightmare Britain from the sooty bricks of truth . . . <i>Dominion</i> shows us what a truly broken Britain would look, and feel, like. (Boyd Tonkin)

A thriller which is also, and perhaps primarily, a work of alternative or counter-factual history, set in 1952 . . . in the manner of Robert Harris&rsquo;s <i>Fatherland</i>. There are fine things a-plenty here, and the plot unfolds compellingly and gallops along briskly. C. J. Sansom has brought off a nice double, writing a good thriller which invites you to ponder the different course history might have taken (Allan Massie)

C. J. Sansom is fascinated by the abuse of power, so it&#39;s not surprising that, hot on the heels of his splendid Shardlake series, comes a novel set in a post-war Britain dominated by Nazi ideology . . . <i>Dominion</i> is absorbing, mordant and written with a passionate persuasiveness . . . Bravo!

One of the thrills of D<i>ominion</i> is to see a writer whose previous talent has been for the captivating dramatisation of real history creating an invented mid-20th century Britain that has the intricate detail and delineation of JRR Tolkien&#39;s Middle Earth . . . A tremendous novel that shakes historical preconceptions while also sending shivers down the spine. (Mark Lawson)

The chase is exciting and the action thrilling, but the really absorbing part of this excellent book is the detailed creation of a society that could so easily have existed.

Fans of Robert Harris will love this.

Dominion is terrific. And no, this isn&#39;t one of those publisher-sponsored blurbs. I just fell in love with it. Nice and long, too. (Stephen King, author of It, The Shining and 11.22.63)

Believable and well researched

What about Daniel Weyman’s performance did you like?

Sonorific voice that suited the main character

Any additional comments?

In May 1940 the meeting between Halifax Chamberlain and Churchill really did have a slightly surprising outcome - Churchill formed the government - despite the King and much of the Conservative party favouring Halifax - this what if book looks at what would have happened if the meeting had gone the other way.My real life great uncle (a member of the war cabinet) is killed in this book!

Worth a listen

What made the experience of listening to Dominion the most enjoyable?

Good scene setting and thoughtful character development. Good fictional account of an alternative ending to the second World War.

Oh do get on!

This ‘what if’ story of Nazi occupied Britain is beautifully read with a brilliant Churchill voice. Sadly historians don’t necessarily make good novelists. The leaden pace; the endless talking; the lack of excitement and bloody irritating middle class agonising ruined the experience. Samson’s ‘Winter in Madrid’ suffered from the same weaknesses. A firm editor could have cut the fat and shaped a better novel. I was reminded of pedestrian nineteenth century writers. If you’ve got the flu and are going nowhere then maybe this is for you; if you want pace and suspense with deep atmosphere go fo ‘SS GB’ by Len Deighton: a far better book.

Alternate history, accurate profanity

Alternate WWII history. Lots of references to New Zealand in this book. The story started out rather interesting, though I ended up skipping and jumping ahead through the book trying to avoid some of the less-than extras which detracted from the enjoyment for me. So I skipped to the last chapter - snort n grin - which I think must the worst run of profanity in it.
Sansom includes lots of lengthy conversations in this book – some which didn’t really need to feature (David’s SIL and her husband). The prologue was a less than tie up of the story.
Adult content with lots of profanity (hard to skip over on an audio) F-bombs and the c-word, which is also used in reference to a prostitute. Meh!