Kaethe

In an alternate England, a truce was reached with Hitler. Fascism covers the continent and is creeping over the UK. No one is unaffected, not even the apolitical Viola Lark, third daughter of a Mitford-like family of sisters, actress offered the chance to star as Hamlet in a slightly cross-cast production.Despite the slow going of the beginning, Walton managed to grab me. Once Viola gets into rehearsing the play she becomes focused on developing her characters, and somewhat oblivious to everything else going on around her. I'd have loved it just for being one of the best depictions of inside theater. That she also, simultaneously is developing the mystery of a bomb going off, and a detective inspector who is compromised and unable to escape from an increasingly horrific police state. Excellent stuff, Hitchcockian. And there's a third to look forward to, yay!Library copy.