Pavane (Keith Roberts, 1968)

Elizabeth I is assassinated, and the country descends into bloody reprisals and insurrection. At this moment of weakness the admiral of the Spanish Armada decides to press his attack. England falls before the Spanish, and the Reformation is swept away...

1968: The stories that follow are self-contained and loosely linked. There is no central character, but in a number of the stories a member of one of three generations of the Strange family steps forward to take their part in the dance. The first couple of stories illustrate how the church has not restricted all technology, but has sparingly allowed some to develop. In "The Lady Margaret" Jesse Strange takes over his father's business, transporting freight across the country in roadtrains pulled by steam engines. "The Signaller" develops one of the most enduring images of the book: a network of semaphore stations spans the country, allowing rapid communication. The network is controlled by the secretive Guild of Signallers, an organisation whose work supports the empire that stretches from Rome. Rome is suspicious of the Signallers, but reliant upon them. As a result, they have more freedom than any other group within this society. "The Signaller" tells the story of Rafe Bigland, from his childhood fascination with the semaphore stations, through his gruelling apprenticeship with the Signallers, and to a final test for him that reveals a mysterious, older facet of England that the Church has not yet been able to vanquish.The metaphor of the title is central to the book. The pavane is a slow and stately dance from the sixteenth century, every step prescribed, patterns moving and returning. This book is a collection of linked short stories referred to as 'measures', and the measures are ended by a brief coda. The metaphor also works at a level deeper than the superficial structure of the narrative.