Dominion cover art

Dominion

A Compulsive, Alternate-History Spy Thriller from the Bestselling Author of Dissolution

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Dominion

By: C. J. Sansom
Narrated by: Daniel Weyman
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About this listen

'Tremendous' – The Guardian

'I just fell in love with it' – Stephen King


Set in a reimagined 1950s Britain, Dominion is a gripping, haunting spy thriller – and a poignant love story. From the master of the historical novel and author of the Shardlake series, C.J. Sansom.

1952. Twelve years have passed since Churchill lost to the appeasers and Britain surrendered to Nazi Germany after Dunkirk. As the long German war against Russia rages on in the east, the British people find themselves under dark authoritarian rule: the press, radio and television are controlled; the streets patrolled by violent auxiliary police and British Jews face ever greater constraints. There are terrible rumours too about what is happening in the basement of the German Embassy at Senate House.

Defiance, though, is growing. In Britain, Winston Churchill's Resistance organization is increasingly a thorn in the government's side. And in a Birmingham mental hospital an incarcerated scientist, Frank Muncaster, may hold a secret that could change the balance of the world struggle for ever.

Civil Servant David Fitzgerald, secretly acting as a spy for the Resistance, is given the mission to rescue his old friend Frank and get him out of the country. Before long he, together with a disparate group of Resistance activists, will find themselves fugitives in the midst of London's Great Smog – as David's wife Sarah finds herself drawn into a world more terrifying than she ever could have imagined. And hard on their heels is Gestapo Sturmbannfuhrer Gunther Hoth, brilliant, implacable hunter of men . . .

'Absorbing, mordant and written with a passionate persuasiveness' – Independent on Sunday

'Exciting, sophisticated and moving' – The Sunday Times

Espionage Historical Science Fiction Spies & Politics Thriller & Suspense Fiction Winston Churchill Exciting Scary War United Kingdom England

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Critic reviews

C. J. Sansom takes a break from his Shardlake series to offer Dominion, an absorbing, thoughtful, spy-politico thriller set in the fog-ridden London of 1952 . . . Part adventure, part espionage, all encompassed by terrific atmosphere and a well-argued “it might have been”. (Marcel Berlins)
An intriguing thriller set in an alternative Britain under the Nazis cunningly reanimates the post-war years as they might have been . . . The tale he sets within his parallel universe is at once exciting, sophisticated and moving. There will be few better historical novels published this year.
This is a big novel with traces of a thriller, in which the good are good and the bad are very bad indeed . . . For readers who enjoy a grown-up adventure story Dominion is evocative, alarming and richly satisfying
Masterly . . . sketched with hallucinatory clarity . . . Sansom, whose Tudor mysteries showed his feeling for the plight of good people in a brutal, treacherous society, builds his nightmare Britain from the sooty bricks of truth . . . Dominion shows us what a truly broken Britain would look, and feel, like. (Boyd Tonkin)
A thriller which is also, and perhaps primarily, a work of alternative or counter-factual history, set in 1952 . . . in the manner of Robert Harris’s Fatherland. There are fine things a-plenty here, and the plot unfolds compellingly and gallops along briskly. C. J. Sansom has brought off a nice double, writing a good thriller which invites you to ponder the different course history might have taken (Allan Massie)
C. J. Sansom is fascinated by the abuse of power, so it's not surprising that, hot on the heels of his splendid Shardlake series, comes a novel set in a post-war Britain dominated by Nazi ideology . . . Dominion is absorbing, mordant and written with a passionate persuasiveness . . . Bravo!
One of the thrills of Dominion is to see a writer whose previous talent has been for the captivating dramatisation of real history creating an invented mid-20th century Britain that has the intricate detail and delineation of JRR Tolkien's Middle Earth . . . A tremendous novel that shakes historical preconceptions while also sending shivers down the spine. (Mark Lawson)
The chase is exciting and the action thrilling, but the really absorbing part of this excellent book is the detailed creation of a society that could so easily have existed.
Fans of Robert Harris will love this.
Dominion is terrific. And no, this isn't one of those publisher-sponsored blurbs. I just fell in love with it. Nice and long, too. (Stephen King, author of It, The Shining and 11.22.63)
All stars
Most relevant
Just wanted to say, this is my first C.J Sansom book and certainly not my last. What a great listen and very well narrated by Daniel Weyman, who's dulcet voice and diverse range of accents, settles you perfectly into the mood of the story. Set in an alternative historical Post-WWII 1950s period, Great Britain by then had made a truce with Nazi Germany. This ended the war prematurely by 1940, turning the British government into a anti-Semitic, fascist regime under the German 3rd Reich control. Yet somehow the novel doesn't come across as a yawnful 'Period' piece novel. It has a modern contemporary flow about it which is so much easier on the ear. Dominion is certainly one of my favourite, and most exciting books i've listened to in a long time and recommend this to anyone who likes a good atmospheric spy thriller! Should be made into a film in my opinion! Good job C.J Sansom!

Dominion: Fantastic and Atmospheric Novel!

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I have enjoyed the author's Shardrake novels set in Tudor England and was surprised by this novel set in the late in the nineteen forties and early fifties. Dominion speculates about a Britain that has made peace with Hitler soon after the outbreak of war and is a pacy thriller as an underground of resistance strives to undermine German domination. There are many historical characters in this "what if" scenario, such as Oswald Mosley, Beaverbrook and Enoch Powell, supporting the Nazis opposed by the likes of Churchill and Attlee as the underdogs. It is certainly a though-provoking book, but also a great listen that kept me rapt from start to finish. The reader does a superb job of bringing the characters to life as he switches back and forth with different accents.

Thought-provoking "what if" scenario

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A powerful novel which exposes the costs of appeasement at the end of World War 2 with different outcomes to those we are familiar with. Brilliantly narrated, and with gripping suspenseful language this is one of the most absorbing novels of recent years.

The costs of appeasement.

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What might have been....
I enjoy these kind of sliding doors history based narratives and this one was very believable and intriguing.
The narrator did an amazing job really adding to the atmosphere, I’ll be looking out for other audiobooks read by him.
Enjoyable. Definitely recommended.

Intriguing, enjoyable story. Excellent narrator

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Did not think i would like this one, as normally this type of book is not my usual kind of read. Although there were a couple of really horrible words used in the book which i found affensive it did not stop me quite enjoying the book. I got into it as it progressed.

Got into it as it progressed.

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