Dominion - C J Sansom

I was totally hooked on this huge counterfactual thriller set in a version of 1950s Britain where the Nazis are in power in all but name, and Churchill is a resistance hero. I enjoyed the plausible details, such as the growing tensions between family members with opposing political sympathies and the complex personal histories drawing people into resistance work, and also found the final Historical Note, in which the author warns of his fears about the threat of the SNP, fascinating and eye-opening. The most memorable section of the novel for me was the description of the reactions of passers-by who must choose whether to risk their own safety by protesting when they see Jews being marched away - a scene that's been described so many times, but to my shame I found it had added personal impact when transposed to the familiar streets of London... The only thing I found to dislike in this book was a slightly unpalatable attitude to infidelity: although their motives were presented in a convincing way, I felt that we were invited to celebrate the decency of the lovers' eventual farewell rather than focus on any damage their liaison had done.