Guy Saville

Guy Saville (born 1973) – In The Afrika Reich (2011), his debut novel, he presents an alternate history where Nazi Germany successfully conquered Africa. In the sequel, The Madagaskar Plan (2015), he continues the story in an alternative 1953 Britain.

In The Afrika Reich (2011), the Holocaust was averted because Britain surrendered early. Instead of extermination camps in Europe, the Nazis opted for “territorial solutions,” primarily the mass deportation of Jews to Africa. In The Madagaskar Plan  (2015), five million European Jews have been exiled to a slave plantation on Madagaskar (based on a real historical Nazi proposal). Key Jewish Characters:

Reuben Salois: A leader of the Jewish resistance and the only person to have successfully escaped the island’s ghetto. He becomes a central figure as British intelligence recruits him to return and incite a revolt.

Madeleine Cranley: An Austrian Jew and the lover of the protagonist, Burton Cole. She is a prisoner on the island, having been sent there by her spiteful British husband.

Jewish Scientists: The plot involves a group of imprisoned Jewish physicists who are being forced by the SS to develop a “super-weapon” for the Reich.

Internal Jewish Politics: The book depicts various factions within the Jewish community on the island, ranging from those attempting to collaborate with the authorities to those planning a violent revolution.

Metaphorical Subtext: Saville has stated that the portrayal of the Jews in the Nazi-ruled Madagascar serves as a metaphor for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, exploring themes of exile, resistance, and the struggle for a homeland. 

Saville’s research for these themes included original Nazi blueprints for the island’s administration and the actual logistics of pre-war deportation proposals.  [Google/AI]

Savile, Guy, (The Afrika Reich) [hc, Henry Holt & Co., 2013] 978-0805095937 [pb, St. Martin’s Griffin, 2015] 978-1250042576

Saville, Guy, (The Madagaskar Plan [2015]) [hc, Henry Holt & Co., 2015] 978-0805095951 [pb, Hodder Paperbacks, 2016] 978-1444710700