Into the Purple Duchy

Sidney Allinson is a Victoria-based communications consultant, Canadian
news correspondent for Britain’s The Army Quarterly and Defence, and
the author of Military Archives: International Directory of Military
Publications and The Bantams: The Untold St

This short novel is an oddly confusing read, veering back and forth
between fantasy and history. Its basic premise is that two of the most
famous battleships that were sunk during World War II—Germany’s
Bismarck and the Royal Navy’s HMS Hood—have reappeared in 1995, on
the St. Lawrence River. The author clearly is an enthusiast of the
Kriegsmarine, and has the rank titles down pat. However, that factual
basis clashes at times with his present-day characters, who have some
sort of close encounter with these ghostly vessels on Lake Ontario. Keen
on long-ago naval events though he is, Hart seems more comfortable with
contemporary icons like CNN. As one of his characters says, “If it
ain’t on ‘Larry King Live’, screw it.”