Precipice

Precipice

Robert Harris

#4535 of 8,085 books · #690 in Historical Fiction

Shortlisted for the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction (2025).

A spellbinding novel of passion, intrigue and betrayal set in England in the weeks leading to the Great War. Summer 1914. In London, 26-year-old Venetia Stanley – aristocratic, intelligent, bored, reckless – is having a love affair with the Prime Minister, H. H. Asquith, a man more than twice her age. He writes to her obsessively, sharing the most sensitive matters of state. As Asquith reluctantly leads the country into war with Germany, a young intelligence officer is assigned to investigate a leak of top-secret documents. Suddenly what was a sexual intrigue becomes a matter of national security that could topple the British government – and will alter the course of political history. Seamlessly weaving fact and fiction in a way that no writer does better, Precipice is the thrilling new novel from Robert Harris.