The writing of this story

The theme running through this story is the reality that all of us little people go about our lives as best we can but things often start going awry, not always due to our own bad decisions … you see, there really is a cabal of evil muvvers who wish to wreck the west and enslave us … Orwell was not wrong.

And that turns ordinary people, firstly into dissidents, then into small cells of people resisting … these are then labelled insurrectionists … and so it goes.

This tale is not about the world events in themselves, although they’re updated along the way, casually mentioned … the tale is far more about the human interaction … the hopes, fears, loves, anger, romances, weaknesses … it’s a human saga, all right? 

Or rather about twenty of them, one after the other … the characters do age over the decade and a half, they grow up, become harder, become kinder towards suffering humanity.

A second theme started to appear in part one ... that one of the best combat units possible in war is hundreds of small, one man-one woman units, preferably married, both armed and covering each other, understanding each other inside out and back to front. 

Sure they argue and get upset but if threatened, heaven help anyone threatening the two of them, especially after the children are born. Everything depends on both setting aside their differences, their niggles and forming powerful bonds with each other, plus with other mini-units, their friends.

The story has exciting sequences but it also has sequences where nothing much seems to occur … the first three chapters are maybe the slowest in the entire story, then it does take off … that’s how it happened in real life.

Spoilers about the plot are below the “read more” line.

[Spoilers ahead]

Part 1

Hugh Jensen meets two young Russian women in London and shows them around.  His school is about to implode [happened in real life] and he gets an invitation about that time from a third Russian, head of a department, to go there for a year [also true but the dates are changed].

He meets a Frenchman [Marc] in his two berth rail compartment who, unbeknowns to him, works for a French security section.  Also unbeknowns to him, a young Russian woman [Ksenia] has slipped a cassette into his cabin bag and now attempts to retrieve it in the town in which Hugh is now living.

Tricked into meeting Ksenia [spoken of by him as Miss Heathrow], he’s returning to Russia from holidays, meets her in London and in a rush of blood, goes north with her by train, making it up as he goes.  The two return to Russia to a different sort of welcome for him.

In fact, certain elements have got it into their heads that he is aiding their opposition and that's not conducive to anyone's help in Russia.  Towards the end of his stay, now extended by many years, he meets a lady [Geneviève] from Paris through both his university and Marc and she turns out to be Marc's boss.

The end of Part 1 finds Mr. Jensen south of Paris near Barbizon, about to try his chances with Geneviève after he loses Ksenia in the worst way possible.

Part 2

Now betrothed to Geneviève, things have disintegrated somewhat in the EU and someone’s using her section for his or her own purposes.  

Geneviève herself is also not as she seems and the situation becomes impossible, to the extent that they must flee across Europe, staying in safehouses, protected by a willing group of people who believe in what they're trying to do in exposing corruption in high places.

After most of the ragtag are killed, four survivors meet up again on an island above New Zealand, deciding to build and sail a boat back to Europe to continue their work, which has now become a bloodyminded mission.

The end of Part 2 sees Hugh and one of the section ladies [Emma] in London, offered a security role under the Prime Minister [a fictional character who is actually a decent person].  The quote at the top is not from that meeting but from the PM who succeeded him. The name of the book alludes to a masquerade ball, also at that time, a highly significant evening for the plot.

Part 3

It’s all falling apart, just like the west, including their own partnerships, the second Prime Minister in as many years is ousted in a putsch and seeks refuge on an outlying dependency, with a small portion of the armed forces and equipment still with them.

All the while the ragtag has fought not only the enemy but rampant infidelity among themselves, there’ve also been quislings within, plants - until even their island is destroyed.  Under withering fire, they seek refuge in the Holy Land near Mt. Carmel, are befriended by the Druze and shelter under Har Megiddon.

They essentially await the end but there are still some twists left and one or two duties to perform before they finally shuffle off to a better place.  The final scenes are close to surreal – how does one describe the last hours of the world?

[End of spoilers]