Robert Harris is probably better known for his excellent novels about Marcus Tullius Cicero however we will be studying his novel Precipice which focuses upon Britain in the summer of 1914. The Prime Minister is Herbert Henry Asquith who is obsessed with a young woman, Venetia Stanley, who is more than half his age. She is undoubtedly a dangerous choice of lover as she is aristocratic, young, reckless and sees life as tedious and without excitement. She is the object of an obsession which includes incessant letter writing , some of which reveal sensitive information. The novel treads a path through fact and fiction as Britain juggles with trying to avert war but ultimately the PM leads Britain unwillingly into war. Sexual intrigue, top-secret documents, national security, the generation gap are all elements in this historical novel portraying this ‘green and pleasant land’ being dragged into a European war.

4 weeks £60