Rule Britannia

In this prescient novel, Daphne du Maurier explores the implications of leaving Europe for a political, economic, and military alliance with the United States.

"It is rather awful," Emma thought as she walked across the fields down to the farm, "how this business is leading us all into subterfuge and deception, and we can't really tell who is friend and who is enemy . . ."

Emma wakes up one morning to an apocalyptic world. The cosy existence she shares with her grandmother, a famous retired actress, has been shattered:

• There's no telephone, no radio
• An American warship sits ominously in the harbour

England has withdrawn from the European Common Market and, on the brink of bankruptcy, has decided that salvation lies in a union—political, military, and economic—with the United States.

Theoretically, it is to be an equal partnership, but it soon begins to look more like a takeover bid.

As the two women piece together clues about the 'friendly' military occupation on their doorstep, family, friends, and neighbours come together to resist the interlopers.