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The foundations of Empire are often ocassions of woe; their dismemberment, always. Fresh off the disappointment of Enigma I return to Harris' magic as instilled by Fatherland Why? The liberties of alternative history as opposed to the constraints of factual history. The frame is different. We went forwards onto a timeline of Axis victory, here we go backwards, unearthing Soviet secrets from the vantage point of 1990s Russia.

It's less of a novel of its time than a parabel with a long shadow: Aside from the rythm of life - Politburo veterans are too advanced in age to plot - a return to the 'glorious aspects' of the Soviet Union is a filtered mirage spun adroitly by Putin anno 2018. Stalin inherited a nation with wooden ploughs and bequated us an empire armed with atomic weapons. And western historians still don't have it easy digging up the past in paper, for Russian archives are conscious of the Orwellian power they yield : quod volimus credimus libenter