The Windsor Faction

Description

A taut and gripping thriller- King Edward VIII is on the throne and keen to broker peace at any cost - WWII could turn out very differently... 'Terrific' Daily Mail 'Tremendous' Guardian 'Page-turning' The Times 'Gripping' Daily TelegraphAutumn 1939. In an alternative world, where Edward VIII still sits on the throne, storm clouds gather over Europe, German troops amass and a 'King's Party' of fascist peace campaigners is stealthily undermining the war effort.For Cynthia Kirkpatrick, the war brings a new-found freedom - lunchtime drinks at the Ritz, rented attic rooms, late-night rackety parties and intriguing new acquaintances.But two new friends loom larger than others, her glamorous colleague Anthea and Tyler, an enigmatic American working at the Embassy. Initially Cynthia is dazzled by them both but soon discovers they have secrets which could prove dangerous, both to her and the country at large.

D.J. Taylor's novels include English Settlement, which won a Grinzane Cavour Prize, Trespass and Derby Day, both of which were long-listed for the Man Booker Prize, and Kept- A Victorian Mystery, a Publishers' Weekly Book of the Year. His other books include After the War- The Novel and England Since 1945, Thackeray, Orwell- The Life, which won the 2003 Whitbread Biography Prize, and Bright Young People- The Rise and Fall of a Generation 1918-1940. He lives in Norwich with his wife, the novelist Rachel Hore, and their three sons.'A writer of formidable accomplishment' Washington Post'Taylor is marking out a territory as distinct and disturbing as Greeneland, with the same imperative towards moral inquisition and a flatlands melancholy that is all his own' Hilary Mantel, Sunday Times'Taylor is a felicitous, intelligent writer' Herald

Compulsively enjoyable * Independent * A tense phoney-war thriller, as evocative in its period representations as it is compelling in its denouement * Mail on Sunday * With its meticulous period detail and its dissection of the English class system at work, this new novel from the author of the highly accomplished Derby Day proves that good historical fiction does not have to take place in a past that actually happened -- Nick Rennison * Sunday Times * It is much harder to show historical change occurring through incremental creep rather than sudden swerves of direction. That DJ Taylor's novel achieves this so well makes in an unusually smart and subtle addition to the genre... Gripping entertainment -- Robert Douglas-Fairhurst * Daily Telegraph * A splendid "what if" thriller... Terrific * Daily Mail * This galloping, might-have-been thriller... Taylor cleverly uses genuine historical details to make the nightmare horribly convincing -- Kate Saunders * Saga * A highly successful literary thriller with one eye on a shocking chapter in the nation's genuine history and another on the potential for authorial invention -- Christian House * Independent on Sunday * Offers a chilling alternative view of the direction the Second World War might have taken had the man who later became the Duke of Windsor...remained on the British throne -- Mark Nicholls * UK Regional Press * A crafty and pitch-perfect novel of Nazi sympathizers and secret agents in wartime London * Independent * It is Taylor's achievement to have written a tense, page-turning thriller, enriched by acute social observation, within which unfolds a subtle meditation upon where the quest for peace ends and the path to treason begins -- Graham Stewart * The Times * A highly successful thriller * Oldie * The novel is much more than an intriguing exercise in alternative history... This is as skilful and enjoyable a novel as you can ask for, the work of a master-craftsman -- Allan Massie * Scotsman *