What if the Second World War had taken a different turn?

Until Further Orders is the first novel in History Reimagined, a series of alternate-history stories built around one compelling idea: history did not have to unfold the way we know it.

Europe, 1943. The balance of power is shifting, but not in the direction recorded in the history books.

Hermann Göring turns against Hitler. Charles de Gaulle dies. The Allied invasion of Normandy fails to produce the breakthrough everyone expected. Joseph Stalin advances through Poland, only to halt his armies at Germany's eastern frontier.

At the centre of this changing world is Elias De Winter, a Belgian radio and communications specialist forced to work for the German war machine. Far from his wife and daughters in Antwerp, Elias becomes involved in Morgenrot, a secret technological project designed to combine radar, image transmission, calculation and military response into a single system.

What begins as technical work soon becomes something far more dangerous. Every improvement to the system may help Germany defend itself more effectively. Every mistake may cost lives. Elias is forced to confront an impossible question: how long can you obey an order before obedience becomes complicity?

Around him, engineers, prisoners, intelligence officers and soldiers are drawn into the same machinery of war. Among them is Polish radio repairman Jakub Lewin, whose knowledge makes him valuable enough to survive — but also gives him a narrow opportunity to resist.

Meanwhile, the great figures of history make different choices. Hitler tries to turn every setback into proof of victory. Göring explores a future without him. Stalin calculates how far the Red Army should advance. And the Western Allies find themselves trapped on a battlefield that no longer follows the plan.

Until Further Orders is a dark, atmospheric historical thriller about war, technology, fear, loyalty and moral responsibility. It blends historical research with fiction to explore not only what happened, but what might have happened if a few crucial events had unfolded differently.

Stefaan Van Laere, born in 1963, is a Belgian author, journalist and publisher with more than three decades of experience in print and online media. He is the founder of Uitgeverij Partizaan / Partizaan Publishing and writes for Boomager, an online platform aimed at the boomer generation. His work includes fiction, non-fiction and journalism on subjects ranging from history and cycling to whisky, technology and artificial intelligence. His books are available in Dutch, English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and Polish.

With History Reimagined, Van Laere brings together historical research, suspense and literary fiction to explore the roads history never took.

History Reimagined begins where the history books stop.