''Under the Yoke'' is a

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

novel by American writer

S. M. Stirling Stephen Michael Stirling (born September 30, 1953) is a Canadian-American science fiction and fantasy author who was born in France. Stirling is well known for his The Domination, Draka series of alternate history (fiction), alternate history no ...

, the second of four books in his

alternate history Alternate history (also alternative history, althist, AH) is a genre of speculative fiction of stories in which one or more historical events occur and are resolved differently than in real life. As conjecture based upon historical fact, altern ...

series

The Domination ''The Domination of the Draka'' (also called the Draka series or the Draka saga) is a dystopian science fiction alternate history series by American author S. M. Stirling. It comprises a main trilogy of novels as well as one crossover novel ...

. It was first published in the United States on September 1, 1989.

Plot summary

Tanya von Shrakenberg, a Draka, establishes a

plantation A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...

in the formerly-French

Touraine Touraine (; ) is one of the traditional provinces of France. Its capital was Tours. During the political reorganization of French territory in 1790, Touraine was divided between the departments of Indre-et-Loire, :Loir-et-Cher, Indre and Vie ...

after the Drakan subjugation of Continental Europe. Her slaves include Marya Sokolowska and Chantal Lefarge, formerly a

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

nun A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 599. The term is o ...

and a

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

Communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

respectively. Fred Kustaa, an agent for the Alliance secret service (the

OSS OSS or Oss may refer to: Places * Oss, a city and municipality in the Netherlands * Osh Airport, IATA code OSS People with the name * Oss (surname), a surname Arts and entertainment * ''O.S.S.'' (film), a 1946 World War II spy film about ...

), is involved in the effort to keep a

resistance movement A resistance movement is an organized effort by some portion of the civil population of a country to withstand the legally established government or an occupying power and to disrupt civil order and stability. It may seek to achieve its objective ...

alive in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

. He smuggles weapons to

guerillas Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare in which small groups of combatants, such as paramilitary personnel, armed civilians, or irregulars, use military tactics including ambushes, sabotage, raids, petty warfare, hit-and-run tactic ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

, and later attempts to smuggle out the German professor Ernst Oerbach, who has vital knowledge on

nuclear fusion Nuclear fusion is a reaction in which two or more atomic nuclei are combined to form one or more different atomic nuclei and subatomic particles ( neutrons or protons). The difference in mass between the reactants and products is manifest ...

. Marya Sokolowska is Fred's contact in this second mission, enduring mental and physical abuse at the hands of Tanya all the while. Meanwhile, Chantal is raped by Tanya's husband, Tom, and is impregnated with twins; this nearly drives her to suicide, but after discovering Marya’s part in the OSS conspiracy, she decides to force herself into the fold by threatening to expose the plot. Fred attends a gathering of Draka in disguise but is revealed after killing one of the Von Shrakenberg’s favorite Serfs, Big Tom, in his attempts to access the local radio to call a plane. He attempts to flee, but fails, leading to the deaths of Fred, Marya, and Ernst, alongside Tanya’s brother Andrew. Chantal manages to escape to the United States on a submarine. In

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, she gives birth to Fred and Marya Lefarge (named after her rescuers), who would be the protagonists of the next book in the series, ''

The Stone Dogs ''The Stone Dogs'' is a science fiction novel by Canadian-American writer S. M. Stirling, the third book in the alternate history series, The Domination. It was first published in paperback by Baen Books in August 1990. It was a preliminary nomin ...

'', and who - though biologically the children of a Draka father - would be staunch enemies of the Draka, and considered serfs in Draken Territory.

References

External links

* 1989 American novels Novels by S. M. Stirling The Domination series Dystopian novels Canadian alternative history novels American alternate history novels Baen Books books {{Canada-novel-stub