Farthing, by Jo Walton

Farthing: A very good novel about the coming of fascism:

Making Light: Three days in Montreal: Posted by Patrick at 09:56 PM: We're back from the little convention Jo Walton threw to celebrate the publication of her latest novel Farthing, which is scarily good and disquietingly pertinent and you should all buy and read it right away.

The convention itself was as much fun as any small con I've ever been to, with a full program of panel discussions deftly engineered to keep conversation flowing at all hours. Jo is a woman with a talent for having interesting friends and getting them talking with one another. For me and Teresa, as for many of the several dozen attendees, the other star attraction was the city of Montreal. I'd been there once before, for a World Fantasy Con in a hotel on a boring downtown block, but on this visit I quickly realized I'd barely had an inkling of what an interesting place it is...