The Two Georges

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The Two Georges
ISBN
0-340-62825-1

The Two Georges is an alternate history and detective thriller novel co-written by science fiction author Harry Turtledove and Oscar-winning actor Richard Dreyfuss.[1] It was originally published in 1995 by Hodder & Stoughton in the United Kingdom, and in 1996 by Tor Books in the United States, and was nominated for the 1995 Sidewise Award for Alternate History.[2]

Background

The flag used in the world of The Two Georges resembles the US 'Grand Union Flag'. In the world of The Two Georges, it was retained permanently as the 'Jack and Stripes', the flag of the North American Union inside the British Empire

For more than two centuries, what would have become the continental

Hawaii being a British protectorate. The title of the novel refers to a fictional Gainsborough painting that commemorates the agreement between George Washington and King George III, which peacefully ended the American Revolution, implied as the result of George Grenville never becoming Prime Minister
. The painting itself has become a symbol of national unity.

Princely States in British India
.

As the North American Union remained in the British Empire following peaceful negotiation, the

Northern Africa
and is ruled over by François IV.

upward social mobility, by the twentieth century, becoming a mainly middle class community. Conversely, the Irish-American community remained a predominantly poor, working class population, subsisting on hard physical labor such as the coal 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 the Sons 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 and Russia are the world's major powers, with the Austrian Empire being a European land-based middle power coveting Balkan territory and neither Germany nor Italy becoming unified nation-states.

As in the

Upper California
.

Plot

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), the Steamer 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 the

Governor-General of the North American Union, Sir Martin Luther King, informs Bushell in confidence that the painting must be recovered before King-Emperor Charles III
's 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 of

dirigible), train, and steamer. They also meet many members of the Sons of Liberty, including Common Sense editor John 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 the Potomac River across from Georgestown, 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 formerly slave-holding family. Bushell then thwarts Bragg's attempts to assassinate the King, first by gunfire then by a bomb concealed in the frame of The 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 both knighted by King Charles for their accomplishments.

Reception

The Houston Chronicle listed The 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.[3] Publishers Weekly praises the novel's "recognizable yet delightfully distorted" world where "engaging characters play out a suspenseful and satisfying story".[4] School Library Journal described the novel as "a fast-paced and gripping story."[4]

Reviews

Similar themes in other works

Washington's Dirigible, part of

American War of Independence
is averted and North America remains part of the British Empire, although with a great deal of autonomy.

References

  1. ^ "Uchronia: The Two Georges". uchronia.net.
  2. ^ "Sidewise Awards for Alternate History". Uchronia. Retrieved 14 May 2011.
  3. ^ Amy Biancolli (2008). "Fiction has long pictured blacks, women in White House". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved 29 October 2008.
  4. ^
    ISBN 0812544595
    .
  5. ^ "Dragon Magazine".
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