Detailed view for the Book: Alteration, The

Title:

Alteration, The
 

Authors:

Genres:

Alternate History

Editions:

# Date Publisher Binding Cover
1 1976-00-00 Viking  

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Blurb: 
Kingsley Amis is best known as a satirist -- Lucky Jim is one of the funniest books since World War II -- but he always had an interest in science fiction and this book presents an alternative history in which Britain remained a Catholic country, and Martin Luther was reconciled to the Church. Other changes including Beethoven writing 20 symphonies and Mozart dying even earlier than in real life. The main character is a boy (Hubert) about to lose his voice because of puberty; the "alteration" of the title is castration to preserve that voice. Amis presents a well-thought out alternate vision, and the adventures of Hubert to escape his alteration are both interesting and used to further explain this alternative history.