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[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/waltonj_smallchangetrilogy2014_thumb2.jpg]]

The "Small Change" trilogy by Creator/JoWalton -- consisting of ''Farthing'', ''Ha'penny'', and ''Half a Crown'' -- is a series of detective novels set in an AlternateHistory where World War II ended with Hitler still alive and in possession of most of continental Europe.

''Farthing'' starts out as a classic English country-house murder mystery, investigated by Inspector Carmichael of Scotland Yard, but becomes darker and more complicated as Carmichael begins tripping over the political threads that run through the case. Things go downhill from there, for Carmichael personally and for England as a whole.

The short story [[http://www.tor.com/stories/2009/02/escape-to-other-worlds-with-science-fiction "Escape to Other Worlds With Science Fiction"]] is set in the United States in the same timeline, with different characters.

!!This series provides examples of:

* AllohistoricalAllusion: An unnamed handsome singer from Liverpool at the British Power rally in ''Half a Crown'' is almost certainly Music/PaulMcCartney. Several references are made to a science fiction novel titled ''[[Literature/NineteenEightyFour 1974]]''.
* AlternateHistory: The main departure point is the US not entering World War II (and not supplying the Allies through the Lend-Lease Act). The US has a non-interventionist administration led by president Lindbergh, and appparently Pearl Harbor hasn't happened and the US and Japan are on friendly terms.
* TheAtoner: Carmichael, especially towards those who are KilledToUpholdTheMasquerade in ''Farthing'', and the driving force behind the Inner Watch.
* BigBrotherIsEmployingYou: Carmichael in the latter part of the series.
* ABloodyMess: In ''Farthing'' the murder victim's body has been arranged with a knife sticking out of his chest and a large red stain on his shirt, which is at first assumed to be blood but is soon discovered to be lipstick.
* ConcertClimax: in ''Ha'penny''
* CrypticBackgroundReference: In ''Half a Crown'', it's never stated what happened to cause the large amount of unrest and crackdowns in 1955.
* DayOfTheJackboot: England in this timeline.
* DeepCoverAgent: Guy Braithwaite is a British national who became a Soviet sleeper agent. His task was to infiltrate the growing British right-wing and then wait for further instruction. From within in the Foreign Office, he contributes to the ''Ha'Penny'' assassination attempt on Hitler in 1949. But by 1960, the Soviet Union has fallen to the Axis and Braithwaite is left as an agent with no country.
* DepravedHomosexual: When the police investigation in ''Farthing'' reveals that [[spoiler: Normanby]] was arrested for having sex with a male prostitute, but used his influence to make the charges "disappear", the reaction of at least some of the police is to view him as this. They make certain not to mention this in public, though.
* EvilCripple: [[spoiler:Mark Normanby]] after the events of ''Ha'Penny''.
* FamilyThemeNaming: The Larkin sisters in ''Ha'penny'' are all named after Shakespeare characters.
* FalseFlagOperation: [[spoiler: The entire Thirkie murder plot in ''Farthing''. By blaming a Jew and an Irish socialist for Thirkie's death, the remaining members of the "Farthing Set" sweep into power on a wave of sympathy and officially establish a fascist government in Britain.]]
* FlawExploitation: Carmichael has the threat of [[ArmoredClosetGay being exposed as gay]] and [[ShameIfSomethingHappened his partner Jack's safety]] constantly hanging over his head.
* GenteelInterbellumSetting: The series effectively extends this into the 1950s, with Britain only participating in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII from 1939-41.
* GreatOffScreenWar: Germany continues fighting on the Eastern Front past 1949; Japan has conquered most of China but continues to fight "insurgents" there.
* GreedyJew: Subverted in ''Farthing''. David Kahn is in fact a moneylender – who specializes in helping the poor start small businesses.
* HitlerAteSugar: Events from ''Ha'Penny'' get a CallBack in ''Half a Crown'' with the fallacious saying going around amongst the debutantes: "[[spoiler:Viola Larkin]] asked a man to dance with her at a ball, and look where ''she'' ended up!"
* {{Homage}}: David and Lucy Kahn's story owes quite a bit to ''Literature/BridesheadRevisited'', albeit with a happier ending for their relationship- up until the events of ''Farthing'', that is.
* HonoraryUncle: Carmichael to Elvira in ''Half a Crown''
* INeverSaidItWasPoison: In ''Farthing'', the police keep Thirkie's true cause of death a secret. A particularly damning piece of evidence against one of the murderers is that she mentions how he was killed in a conversation.
* KilledToUpholdTheMasquerade: [[spoiler:Alan Brown, Agnes Timms, and potentially Lady Thirke (the book doesn't mention if she survives or not)]] in ''Farthing'' are killed to suppress evidence.
%% * MyGodWhatHaveIDone: in ''Ha'penny''
* NaziNobleman- Several appear among the Farthing Set and the Larkin family (especially as they are based on the Mitfords). The British Power movement in ''Half a Crown'' is not quite the Hitler Youth, but they come close.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Being a generally good person and a good policeman, Carmichael saves some people in ''Ha'Penny''. Unfortunately he saves [[spoiler: Hitler and fascist Prime Minister Normanby]]. He soon realizes things would have been better off if he hadn't done anything.
* NoHistoricalFiguresWereHarmed:
** The eccentric upper-class Larkin sisters central to ''Ha'Penny'' are clearly based on the real [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitford_family Mitford sisters]], right down to some becoming fascists and one becoming a communist. Unity Mitford is mentioned in ''Half a Crown'', so they still exist.
** Guy Braithwaite is a Soviet sleeper agent, who is so well-intrenched in fascist British politics he's become Foreign Secretary by the events of ''Half a Crown'' in 1960. He is modeled on [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Burgess Guy Burgess]] and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Maclean_%28spy%29 Donald Maclean]], real-life British Soviet spies in the Foreign Office. After the USSR was defeated by the Axis, Braithwaite remarks that maybe Stalin wasn't the answer any more than Hitler was, and [[spoiler: he winds up Prime Minister after Normanby is arrested for James Thirkie's murder.]]
* NoodleIncident: Royston refers to "that man with the stockings" as one of their old cases. He's never mentioned again.
* AnOfferYouCantRefuse: Carmichael is blackmailed into [[spoiler:effectively becoming leader of a [[StateSec British gestapo]]]].
* RageWithinTheMachine: Carmichael, Jacobson, and the rest of the "Inner Watch", who secretly use the power and resources of their StateSec jobs to operate an extensive underground railroad.
* RealityIsUnrealistic: Jo Walton described "[[http://archive.li/ihWy#selection-669.0-693.31 The Tiffany Problem]]" with examples of how readers of this series thought some historical facts were inventions of her alternate history.
-->One review of ''Farthing'' said that as part of the changes in the alternate world, homosexuality was made illegal, and you can't respond to a review saying "1969! Homosexuality between adults wasn't legalized in Britain until 1969!"
-->In ''Half a Crown'', a number of my test readers had problems with things in the British constitution that are, I'm sorry, in the British constitution to this very day.
* RichBitch: Most of the women in the Farthing Set.
* SettledForGay: Poor Daphne Normanby - or, rather, her family. After her scandalous affair with a married man when she was 17, her family quickly marries her off to the first suitable candidate. Never mind that his only interest in women is to maintain a respectable facade as a married man.
* ShoutOutThemeNaming: The Larkin sisters, all named after Shakespeare characters.
* StageName: ''Ha'Penny'' has Viola Larkin, who goes by Viola Lark on the stage to distance herself from her famous and influential BlueBlood family.
* StateSec: The Watch in ''Half a Crown''.
* SuicidePill: In ''Half a Crown'', everyone who's aware of the "Inner Watch" is fitted with a poison tooth as a matter of course. [[spoiler:Jack opts to use his when he is brought in by the police.]] [[spoiler:Carmichael's]] tooth is forcibly removed before he can get a chance to break it.
* TenLittleMurderVictims: subverted in ''Farthing'', which is set up as a classic country house GenteelInterbellumSetting murder mystery, then turns out to be [[spoiler:[[FalseFlagOperation a political conspiracy]]]].
* TokenEnemyMinority: {{Invoked}} by Jacobson in ''Half a Crown'', the token Jewish member of the Watch. He's [[ZeroApprovalGambit perceived as]] a [[TheQuisling Collaborator Figurehead]] by most of the remaining British Jewish community, who naturally don't know he's part of the Inner Watch's RageWithinTheMachine.
* TwoLinesNoWaiting: Each of the novels is structured with alternating chapters from the point of view of Inspector Carmichael (3rd person), and a young woman writing in the 1st person: Lucy Kahn in ''Farthing'', Viola Larkin in ''Ha'Penny'', and Elvira Royston in ''Half a Crown''.
* UndergroundRailroad: The Inner Watch works to help victims of the political oppression escape the country.
* WellIntentionedExtremist: The Scottites and their IRA connections in ''Ha'Penny''.
%% * WhereEverybodyKnowsYourFlame: The Caravan Club in ''Half a Crown.''
* ZeroApprovalGambit: Throughout the books, Carmichael is attempting to [[TheAtoner make up for the moral compromises]] he has been blackmailed into by getting as many innocents as he can [[UndergroundRailroad out of the country]].
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