The Separation – Christopher Priest (SF – Masterworks)

Description

This is a not-so-straightforward story of twin brothers, rowers in the 1936 Olympics. One joins the RAF, and captains a Wellington; he is shot down after a bombing raid on Hamburg and becomes Churchill’s aide-de-camp. His twin brother, a pacifist, works with the Red Cross, rescuing bombing victims in London. But the two brothers – both called J.L. Sawyer – live their lives in alternate versions of reality. In one, the Second World War ends as we imagine it did; in the other, thanks to efforts of an eminent team of negotiators headed by Hess (Hitler’s deputy), the war ends in 1941.

THE SEPARATION is an account of how one perceives and shapes the past, and is an emotionally riveting story of how an average man can make a difference.