When General Charles De Gaulle returned to power in France in 1958 he headed off the threat that rebel paratroopers would seize control of Paris. Over the next few years he stabilised his country and managed to extricate it from colonial rule over Algeria. He remained President until retiring in 1969. Yet, especially in the early 1960s, President De Gaulle faced a number of assassination attempts carried out by army officers, members of the notorious OAS, furious at his abandonment of France’s empire. ‘Scavenged Days’ explores the chaos that would have followed if just one of these attempts had succeeded.

Laure Favager and Gilles Vasseur are young Parisian journalists who get caught up in the seizure of power by the terrorists who have blown up President De Gaulle. Not knowing the importance of the information entrusted to them, they are soon drawn into the burgeoning civil war developing across France. ‘Scavenged Days’ shows the unfolding violence and repression that would have followed in the days following the killing of De Gaulle. Laure and Gilles’s story is set against the backdrop of incidents seen across France and Algeria as the OAS seeks to turn France away from democracy towards an authoritarian regime.

Alexander Rooksmoor has been writing alternate history fiction for over twenty years, based on a career researching and teaching history. In this full length novel he shows how a small change in a single bomb blast in 1961 could have led to a very different outcome for a country at the heart of Western Europe. While filling the book with carefully-considered ‘what if?’ developments, he also provides rich characters to engage with, as they work to survive the challenges of this alternate history; to ensure that they survive and democracy is restored.

NOTE: This book is a well-rounded alternate history novel which means it looks at the impact of a different history on the lives of a number of characters. Consequently it is more like a book by Harry Turtledove rather than a book by Peter Tsouras. While it involves some battle scenes, this is not a book simply of military action that just lists various units and how they might have fought against each other. If you are looking simply for a book outlining alternative battles then this book is not for you.