Sidewise Award for Murray Davies's novel Collaborator

Collaborator is an alternate history novel by Murray Davies, published in 2003. The novel is set in a Nazi occupied Great Britain in 1940 and 1941. It centers around former POW Nick Penny and life in occupied Britain. It won the 2003 Sidewise Award for Alternate History. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Murray Davies is a Welsh author. ... Alternative history or alternate history can be: A History told from an alternative viewpoint, rather than from the view of imperialist, conqueror, or explorer. ... Murray Davies is a Welsh author. ... 1940 (MCMXL) was a leap year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1940 calendar). ... For the movie, see 1941 (film). ... The Sidewise Award for Alternate history was established in 1995 to recognize the best alternate history stories and novels of the year. ...

Plot

• Contains Spoilers*

Sergeant Nick Penny has beeen a POW for four months. He had fought during the Nazi invasion of Britain. His ability to speak German has secured his release to work for the provincial governor of the West Country. He returns to his home (the location of which is undisclosed) to discover what has happened to his family and gets embroiled in the growing resistance movement. He gets involved in evading the Gestapo, collaborating with the IRA, unsuccessfully attempting to convey the British Crown Jewels to Canada and kidnap scientists. Sergeant is a rank used in some form by most militaries, police forces, and other uniformed organisations around the world. ... National Socialism redirects here. ... This article or section includes a list of works cited but its sources remain unclear because it lacks in-text citations. ... Following the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty on 6 December 1921, the Irish Republican Army in the 26 counties that were to become the Irish Free State split between supporters and opponents of the Treaty. ... The Crown Jewels or Honours of Scotland are treated separately. ...

Characters

Nick Penny - The main character, he was a Sergeant in an Anti-Aircraft unit during the German invasion and now works for the provincial governor. He finds previous friends hostile to him and being branded a traitor. However he joins the resistance to fight for Britain's freedom.

Mrs Penny - Nick's mother she doesn't like the Germans and is very protective of her family. She is arrested and executed later in the novel.

Joan Pendleton - Nick's sister, she was married to a Royal Navy officer before the war. He was killed in mid 1940 when his destroyer went down fighting. She is very formidable but is forced to sleep with a black marketeer to provide her family with food. The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of the British armed services (and is therefore the Senior Service). ...

David Pendleton - Joan's naive young son. He is very adventurous and eager to kill Germans. His Uncle Nick has to keep him out of trouble. David is caught writing V for Victory signs on a barrack wall and is nearly deported but Nick saves him.

Generalleutnant Kurt von Glass - Provincial governor of the West Country, a Prussian. He is not overtly supportive of the Nazis but is proud of his country's military achievements. He was wounded leading Brandenburgers on an assault on British positions near Dover. He is eager to get into battle again and gets a commend on the Russian front midway through the novel. Motto: Suum cuique Latin: To each his own Prussia at its peak, as leading state of the German Empire Capital Königsberg, later Berlin Political structure Duchy, Kingdom, Republic Duke1  - 1525–68 Albert I  - 1688–1701 Frederick III King1  - 1701–13 Frederick I  - 1888–1918 William II Prime Minister1,2... Arms of Dover Borough Council This article is about the English port town. ...

Standartenfuhrer Stoltz - A cold blooded SS man who holds the British people in contempt. And desires the destruction of the British resistance.

Roy Locke & Matty Cordington - Both are ex POW's and pre-war friends of Nick's. They were both released from POW camps and meet up with Nick only to become heavily involved in the resistance.

Minor Characters

Jacob & Miriam Venner - Jewish couple who own a shop. They are subject to the SS and Miriam is deported. The word Jew ( Hebrew: יהודי) is used in a wide number of ways, but generally refers to a follower of the Jewish faith, a child of a Jewish mother, or someone of Jewish descent with a connection to Jewish culture or ethnicity and often a combination...

Hauser- Glass's assistant

Sgt Bliecher - An German spy who try's to break up the local resistance unsuccessfully.

Vee Harper - A "gerrybag". She has a brief affair with Nick. She later gets pregnant with a German soldiers baby.

Background

Operation Sealion succeeds in September 1940. After the French handed over its navy to the Germans, the Royal Navy moved to Canada. Pitched battles were fought on British soil in London and Ashford. The Irish Free State is also occupied. The British Royal Family and government flee to Canada. Winston Churchill leads a government in exile, while Samuel Hoare leads a collaborating government with Germany. The Duke of Windsor is awaiting to be crowned regent, but the Germans don't know that he and the Duchess of Windsor are actually spies. The British fleet and whats left of the army reside in Canada awaiting the re-invasion of Britain. Meanwhile the Germans are trying to locate the Crown Jewels which went missing during the invasion. Several battalions of the British Free Corps have been formed. Sir Oswald Mosley surprised most people by refusing to collaborate with the Germans and is locked up in the Tower of London. The Germans are attempting to charm the British people into submission. Organisations sprout up promoting Anglo-German Friendship. However there is a darker side to the occupation a hundred people have been killed in Liverpool and Glasgow. Jewish people are beginning to be persecuted, whilst a resistance movement is steadily growing. Operation Sealion (Unternehmen (Undertaking) Seelöwe in German) was a World War II German plan to invade the United Kingdom. ... Territory of the Irish Free State Capital Dublin Language(s) Irish, English Government Constitutional monarchy Monarch  - 1922–1936 George V  - 1936–1936 George VI President of the Executive Council  - 1922–1932 W.T. Cosgrave  - 1932–1937 Eamon de Valera Legislature Oireachtas  - Upper house Seanad Éireann  - Lower house Dáil Éireann... Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, KG, OM, CH, TD, FRS, PC (Can) (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was an English statesman, soldier, and author, best known as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. ... The Right Honourable Sir Samuel John Gurney Hoare, 1st Viscount Templewood (1880-1959), more commonly known as Sir Samuel Hoare, was a British Conservative politician who served in various capacities in the Conservative and National governments of the 1920s and 1930s. ... The peerage title Duke of Windsor was created in the Peerage of the United Kingdom in 1937 for The Prince Edward, formerly King of the United Kingdom. ... Regent, from the Latin, a person selected to administer a state because the ruler is a minor or is not present or debilitated. ... Wallis, Duchess of Windsor and the Duke of Windsor on their wedding day Bessie Wallis Warfield, more widely known as Wallis Simpson and later The Duchess of Windsor (June 19, 1896–April 24, 1986) was the wife of Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor, the former King Edward VIII of the... A recruitment poster produced by the British Free Corps In World War II, the British Free Corps (BFC) or Britisches Freikorps was a unit of the Waffen-SS consisting of British and Dominion prisoners of war who had been recruited by the Nazis. ... Sir Oswald Ernald Mosley, 6th Baronet (November 16, 1896 - December 3, 1980) was a British politician principally known as the founder of the British Union of Fascists. ... Her Majestys Royal Palace and Fortress The Tower of London, more commonly known as the Tower of London (and historically simply as The Tower), is a historic monument in central London, England on the north bank of the River Thames. ... Liverpool skyline. ... For other uses, see Glasgow (disambiguation). ...