 First edition (UK) | |
| Author | Harry Turtledove andRichard Dreyfuss |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Alternate History,Mystery,Steampunk |
| Publisher | Hodder & Stoughton (UK) Tor Books (US) |
Publication date | 1995 (UK) March 1996 (US) |
| Publication place | United Kingdom |
| Media type | Print (Paperback andhardcover) |
| Pages | 608 |
| ISBN | 0-340-62825-1 |
The Two Georges is analternate history anddetective thriller novel co-written by science fiction authorHarry Turtledove andOscar-winning actorRichard Dreyfuss.[1] It was originally published in 1995 byHodder & Stoughton in theUnited Kingdom, and in 1996 byTor Books in theUnited States, and was nominated for the 1995Sidewise Award for Alternate History.[2]
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For more than two centuries, what would have become the continentalUnited States andCanada has been the North American Union, a self-governingdominion within theBritish Empire;Alaska remains under the rule ofRussia whileHawaii is a Britishprotectorate. The title of the novel refers to a fictionalGainsborough painting that commemorates the agreement betweenGeorge Washington and KingGeorge III, which peacefully ended theAmerican Revolution, implied to be the result ofGeorge Grenville never becomingPrime Minister. The painting itself has become a symbol of national unity.
Native Americans fared much better than in real-world history with tribes such as theIroquois and theCherokee managing to keep much of their land and have autonomy, their status comparable to that of theprincely states inBritish India.
As the North American Union remained in the British Empire following peaceful negotiation, theFrench Revolution was suppressed at thestorming of the Bastille by troops under the command ofNapoleon Bonaparte in the service ofLouis XVI, thus preserving theBourbon monarchy. By the twentieth century,France andSpain exist in a French-dominatedpersonal union, the Holy Alliance, which controls most ofLatin America andNorthern Africa and is ruled over by François IV.
The abolition of slavery in the British Empire in 1833 included slaves in North America. The emancipatedblacks prospered, gained education and experienced a rapidupward social mobility, becoming a mainly middle class community by the 20th century. Conversely, theIrish-American community remained a predominantly poor, working class population, subsisting on hard physical labor such as thecoal mining on which the North American Union depended for its energy. This created a feeling of bitter jealousy among the Irish, and many of them came to support theSons of Liberty, a terrorist organization that wants to see America become independent from the British Empire and promotes a blatantly racist and xenophobic ideology.
In the twentieth century, the empires of Great Britain, the Holy Alliance andRussia are the world's major powers, with theAustrian Empire being a European land-basedmiddle power covetingBalkan territory and neither Germany nor Italy becoming unified nation-states.
As in theMexican War of our history, the mid-nineteenth century saw Britain and the North American Union conquer a large portion ofNueva España (in this case, also including theBaja California peninsula) from the Holy Alliance. The city ofLos Angeles was renamed New Liverpool and developed into one of the largest cities of the North American Union and the Province ofUpper California.
The Two Georges, being displayed in New Liverpool, is stolen while a crowd is distracted by the murder of 'Honest' Dick (a.k.a.'Tricky' Dick), theSteamer King, a nationally known used car salesman. In its place is left a gramophone with a recording of the "Yankee Doodle," a notorious subversive song serving as the anthem of the Sons of Liberty.
Colonel Thomas Bushell of theRoyal American Mounted Police leads the search for the painting, accompanied by its former curator (and his eventual love interest) Dr. Kathleen Flannery and Captain Samuel Stanley. Some days later, a ransom note is received from the Sons of Liberty. TheGovernor-General of the North American Union,Sir Martin Luther King, informs Bushell in confidence that the painting must be recovered beforeKing-Emperor Charles III's[3] state visit, or the government will have to pay the Sons' ransom demand of fifty million pounds.
The search takes Bushell, Flannery, and Stanley across the country via airship (an advanced form ofdirigible), train, and steamer. They also meet many members of the Sons of Liberty, includingCommon Sense editorJohn F. Kennedy.
After chasing many false leads and the wrong suspects, Bushell and his associates arrive at Victoria (the nation's capital, on the south side of thePotomac River across fromGeorgetown, Maryland); during a reception at the Russian Embassy, Bushell encounters his ex-wife Irene, who had an affair with and subsequently married Sir David Clarke, Governor-General King's chief of staff.The Two Georges is found undamaged in a self-storage facility an hour before the King arrives. They also uncover the true culprits: the Holy Alliance and Bushell's superior officer and covert Sons of Liberty operative, Lieutenant General Sir Horace Bragg, who believed that emancipation was an injustice to his formerlyslave-holding family. Bushell then thwarts Bragg's attempts to assassinate the King, first by gunfire then by a bomb concealed in the frame ofThe Two Georges. When Bragg is arrested and awaiting trial, he and Bushell argue over the outcomes of a potential war against the Holy Alliance and a resultant American separatist uprising caused by the theft of the painting. Later, Bushell and Stanley are bothknighted by King Charles for their accomplishments.
TheHouston Chronicle listedThe Two Georges as one of many pieces of fiction that have pictured blacks as the head of the executive branch, in this case Sir Martin Luther King, Governor General of North America.[4]Publishers Weekly praises the novel's "recognizable yet delightfully distorted" world where "engaging characters play out a suspenseful and satisfying story".[5]School Library Journal described the novel as "a fast-paced and gripping story."[5]
Washington's Dirigible, part ofJohn Barnes'Timeline Wars series, has a similar theme: a resourceful time traveler manages to getBenjamin Franklin appointed as the tutor of the youngGeorge III – making him a liberal-minded King, well-disposed towards the North American colonists. The result, as inThe Two Georges, is an alternate history timeline in which theAmerican War of Independence is averted and North America remains part of the British Empire, although with a great deal of autonomy.