Book Seven

Feierabend

2028 to 2029

A photograph inside a small wooden observatory dome on a winter night: the slit is open to a deep blue sky with the belt of Orion and a red star in it, frost along its edges, an old brass telescope on its pier pointing up, a cast-iron stove glowing in the corner, and a slim boy in a dark coat seen from behind with his hands clasped behind his back, a sealed letter in one of them, looking up at the stars. Crown on the Potomac Feierabend Book Seven 2028 to 2029

December 2028. Alexander I has been German Emperor, King of Prussia and Kaiser von Kamerun since the morning his father died in a corridor, and he is not allowed to do anything with any of it until he is sixteen. On the night of the Prussian election the woman his Council dismissed in his name wins outright, and by the spring she has done the thing he refused to ask for.

Feierabend follows him from a kitchen table in New Westminster to a dome at Potsdam: a cousin across the Atlantic who writes every week and in March tries to help, a vote in the Bundesrat that nobody will ever be able to explain, two mothers who find the letters in the same week and say nothing, and nine days at Easter when the four of them are in one house.

Each chapter opens with a short extract from the Universal Register, the encyclopedia of the world the book is set in. The extracts are quoted from the Register as it stands; the chapters show what happened in the rooms it was not in.

Begin reading: Prologue → Characters

Part One: The Count (11 November and 3 to 31 December 2028)

  1. Prologue Alexander I. 27 min.
  2. 1 Election Night Alexander I. 16 min.
  3. 2 Nikolaus Alexander I. 16 min.
  4. 3 The Commission Alexander I. 12 min.
  5. 4 Her Second Business Alexander I. 13 min.
  6. 5 The Dome in Advent Alexander I. 16 min.
  7. 6 Christmas Eve Alexander I. 15 min.
  8. 7 The Corridor Alexander I. 14 min.
  9. 8 Silvester Alexander I. 15 min.

Part Two: The Amendment (4 January to 30 March 2029)

  1. 9 The Letter from Solliden Alexander I. 14 min.
  2. 10 Kingdom Day Alexander I. 14 min.
  3. 11 The Third Drawer Alexander I. 13 min.
  4. 12 Three-Fifths Alexander I. 14 min.
  5. 13 Charlotte's Birthday Alexander I. 15 min.
  6. 14 Homework Alexander I. 14 min.
  7. 15 The Bundesrat Alexander I. 12 min.
  8. 16 The Ribbon Alexander I. 14 min.
  9. 17 Good Friday Alexander I. 12 min.

Part Three: Easter Week (31 March to 8 April 2029)

  1. 18 Holy Saturday Alexander I. 15 min.
  2. 19 Easter Day Alexander I. 14 min.
  3. 20 The Bus Alexander I. 15 min.
  4. 21 The Mothers Alexander I. 13 min.
  5. 22 Aunt Christina Alexander I. 12 min.
  6. 23 The Four of Them Alexander I. 16 min.
  7. 24 Two Drawers Alexander I. 13 min.
  8. 25 The Bus Driver's Son Alexander I. 13 min.
  9. 26 The Wrong Season Alexander I. 11 min.
  10. 27 Godmother Alexander I. 10 min.
  11. 28 The River Alexander I. 12 min.
  12. 29 Low Sunday Alexander I. 12 min.

Part Four: The Day After (12 April to 2 May 2029)

  1. 30 The Bag Alexander I. 14 min.
  2. 31 Two-Thirds Alexander I. 14 min.
  3. 32 Jaunde Alexander I. 13 min.
  4. 33 The Herrenhaus Alexander I. 14 min.
  5. 34 The Declaration Alexander I. 13 min.
  6. 35 Ten in the Morning Alexander I. 12 min.
  7. 36 Feierabend Alexander I. 18 min.