title: Half a Crown (Small Change)
author:  Jo Walton 
description: In Walton's fine conclusion to her alternative-history trilogy (after <i>Ha'penny</i>), former Scotland Yarder Peter Carmichael, now head of the secret police organization known as the Watch, must prepare for a peace conference to be held in London two decades after Britain reached an accommodation with Hitler's Germany in the early 1940s. Carmichael also has to worry about his sexual relationship with his valet, Jack, and the covert unit within the Watch he's created to smuggle British Jews out of the country. Then his nave 18-year-old ward, Elvira Royston, who's about to be presented to the queen, overhears a conversation that could compromise her protector. Elvira, who winds up in police custody after attending a political rally that turns violent, accepts her authoritarian society with a casualness that's truly chilling. Walton's understated prose and deft characterizations elevate this above similar works such as <i>Fatherland</i>and <i>SS-GB</i>. Some readers, though, may feel let down by an optimistic ending that jars with the series' overall downbeat tone. <i>(Oct.)</i> <br />Copyright  Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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  ![image](images/cover.jpg)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  WHAT MAKES  
  THIS BOOK  
  SO GREAT
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  _Also by Jo Walton_
  
  
  The King’s Peace
  
  
  The King’s Name
  
  
  The Prize in the Game
  
  
  Tooth and Claw
  
  
  Farthing
  
  
  Ha’penny
  
  
  Half a Crown
  
  
  Lifelode
  
  
  Among Others
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # WHAT MAKES  
  THIS BOOK  
  SO GREAT
  
  
  Jo Walton
  
  
  
  
  
  ![image](images/pub.png)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Constable & Robinson Ltd  
  55-56 Russell Square  
  London WC1B 4HP  
  [www.constablerobinson.com](http://www.constablerobinson.com)
  
  
  First published in the US by Tor Books,  
  a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC, 2014
  
  
  First published in the UK by Corsair,  
  an imprint of Constable & Robinson Ltd., 2014
  
  
  Copyright © Jo Walton 2014
  
  
  The right of Jo Walton to be identified as the author of this work has been
  asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
  
  
  All rights reserved. This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall
  not, by way of trade or otherwise, be 