Robert Harris became a must-read author for me after reading and loving An Officer and a Spy, the Cicero trilogy and Conclave, but some of his more recent books have left me feeling slightly disappointed. His new one, Precipice, sounded promising, but would it be a return to form?

The novel opens in London in the summer of 1914 and introduces us to Venetia Stanley, a twenty-six-year-old woman from a wealthy, aristocratic family. Venetia is growing bored with the aimlessness of her days and the spoiled, shallow group of friends, known as the Coterie, that she has fallen in with, so when Herbert Henry Asquith begins an affair with her she sees it as a welcome escape. Not only is Asquith more than twice her age, he is also the Prime Minister and Venetia finds it flattering that he seems to value her opinion on politics and includes her in discussions on important matters of state.

Asquith is currently preoccupied with the situation in Ireland where the Nationalists are campaigning for Home Rule, but soon he has an even bigger problem to deal with as tensions begin to escalate in Europe and it looks increasingly possible that Britain could be pulled into a war. At this crucial moment in British history, it seems that the security of the nation is being put at risk – several confidential documents giving details of the government’s military and diplomatic plans have been found by members of the public and handed to the police. Only a small number of high-ranking government ministers have access to this information so, unlikely as it seems, one of them must be responsible for the leaks. Detective Sergeant Paul Deemer is given the task of investigating and it’s not long before he makes a shocking discovery.

Although I’ve read many novels set during WWI, they’ve usually dealt with ordinary people rather than politicians and certainly haven’t been written from the perspective of the Prime Minister. I knew nothing about H.H. Asquith’s private life, what he was like as a person or how he was viewed by his friends, colleagues and the public, so I learned a lot from this book. Harris draws on Asquith’s published letters to Venetia Stanley as one of his main sources and quotes from them extensively throughout the novel (Venetia’s letters to Asquith were apparently destroyed, so Harris uses his imagination to recreate them).

The impression I got of Asquith from this book, as a politician, was of a generally well-meaning man who was competent enough as a peacetime Prime Minister (apart from where the challenge of Ireland was concerned) but definitely not the right person to lead the country through a war. His overly cautious approach in the early stages was very frustrating to watch; it’s likely that the outbreak of war was inevitable and nothing he could have done would have averted it, but he didn’t seem to grasp the seriousness of the situation at all and refused to commit Britain one way or the other when he was being pressed from all sides to take decisive action. Even when war did break out, it seemed to be of less importance to him than his relationship with Venetia and again it was frustrating to see him sitting composing letters to her during cabinet meetings and plotting ways to escape from political duties to go and visit her. Although the general public weren’t supposed to know about the affair, it was an open secret amongst their family members and I couldn’t help feeling sorry for Margot, Asquith’s wife.

The thriller element of the novel is weaker and although I was never bored, the book never quite became unputdownable either. There’s no real mystery surrounding the security breaches because both we and Paul Deemer know from very early on who is responsible, but it’s still interesting to see how Deemer approaches the situation and there’s an entertaining section where he goes undercover in Wales in search of more information. There’s also a small twist towards the end of the book, which I hadn’t really seen coming, although it had started to occur to me that something wasn’t quite right!

Precipice is definitely more historical fiction than thriller, which may or may not appeal depending on your personal taste. Although it hasn’t become one of my absolute favourites by Robert Harris, I really enjoyed it for the fascinating insights into Asquith and his government.

The strongest point about Precipice is how Robert Harris portrays Prime Minister Asquith during the biggest crisis of his career. The letters he wrote to Venetia Stanley are cringeworthy, reminiscent of an adolescent schoolboy and the building of this novel around them was rather tasteless in my opinion. Having said that Mr Harris has a vivid imagination while writing as Venetia Stanley, whose own letters were destroyed by Asquith. Although the writing is good the reason for Asquith's infatuation with this young woman was not explained at all. I have enjoyed many of Mr Harris's books but Pecipice is not one of his best. However, I have little doubt that it will be successful and readers wishing to learn something of the history around the politics of World War One will find it interesting. Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House UK for the opportunity to read and review this book.

He’s done it again – this book is yet another masterful blending of fact and fiction backed by superb and illuminating research, flawless writing, and a creative imagination that should be earning him a bucket load of awards.
Robert Harris is such a skillful storyteller that he makes you believe in whatever world he is constructing. He reimagines real people and seamlessly places them among his fictional characters to create a very believable sense of time and place.
This thrilling new novel combines a story of scandal, politics, and obsession as Harris takes us back to 1914 and a country on the brink of war. Seemingly with the knowledge of friends and family, 26-year-old bored aristocrat Venetia Stanley 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 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 – and suddenly what was a sexual intrigue becomes a matter of national security.
Asquith doesn’t come out of this well, both for the way he treats the women in his life, and for the disregard he shows for state secrets. He appears to be self-pitying, weak, and more interested in writing to his lover than paying attention during critical cabinet meetings. Asquith’s behaviour verges on being both cruel and obsessive, and I’m surprised Venetia – once past the initial infatuation of being courted by power – didn’t tire of him sooner.
While Asquith’s letters to Venetia survive and acted as an inspiration for this novel, Venetia’s letters had to be recreated by Harris. They feel entirely believable and help to immerse us in her world and the incredible situation she finds herself in.
I love the way Harris completely immerses you in the world of his novel, whether it’s ancient Rome, the Vatican, the English Civil War, or the Second World War. And while his books wear their research lightly – the detailed observations make it clear how much hard work has gone into making them feel authentic. This should surely be another bestseller.
With thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for an ARC in return for a review.

The year is 1914 and the UK is on the cusp of war, and the only thing that is on the mind of H.H. Asquith the British Prime Minister is Venetia Stanley a vivacious aristocrat who he is having a secret affair with.
He is more than double her age and he is obsessed. So much so he starts to send her correspondence that is secret. Intelligence that if it fell into the wrong hands would have massive detriment to national security.
This is something the security services have become aware of and start to monitor the situation.
If this becomes public knowledge this will be the scandal of the century, so can they keep their affair a secret or will they be exposed?
Robert Harris has written a quite brilliant novel with Precipice.
The story from start to finish is highly intriguing. Harris has the knack of setting the narrative of his books from the very beginning and has a wonderful understanding of the subject matter. He brings history and its characters to life with great aplomb.
I’d say there are very few authors that can live and work in the same circles as Robert Harris, he really is very fine indeed.

This is a fascinating insight into the lead up and first few months of WW1. Incorporating letters from Prime Minister Asquith to Venetia Stanley - often composed during War Office meetings - not only do we have an insight into his fascination with this young woman but he discusses meetings and actually passed on to her telegrams that were top secret!! Robert Harris intertwines fact with fiction seamlessly and made this a definite page turner full of historical information. It is astounding that at the start of the war life continued to make no difference to those who lived the high life. One has to wonder at Asquith's lack of concern where secrecy was concerned!
Many thanks to Netgalley/Robert Harris/Random House UK for a digital copy of this title. All opinions expressed are my own.

Gripping political thriller outlining the tense series of events leading up to WW1. Nothing is straightforward for Asquith the prime minister as his normally analytical mind for complex issues is distracted as he balances the weight of high office with the ever demands on his concentration of a heady love affair with an aristocratic girl four decades younger . Into the conundrum is the investigation by an intelligence officer intent on finding the perpetrator responsible for high lever security leaks. The perils of decisions made and foolish actions taken in the throes of passion made by those charged with orchestrating the trajectory of a looming war with huge casualties mounting on a daily basis. A highly entertaining and gripping storyline of the run up and onset of the First World War for readers who do not normally read that genre. Many thanks to author publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

I don't know why but I've never read any Robert Harris novels before. I was attracted to this one because of its setting in the early days of WW1.

What I liked about the book. It is very detailed in its depiction of what was happening politically at the time. We get insight into the decision making made at this time through the real life letters that HH Asquith sent to his lover, Venetia Stanley. I enjoyed reading about the lives of people at that time. The upper classes are thoroughly covered of course but we also get insight into the lives of ordinary people through the eyes of a fictional character, the special branch agent Deemer. It kept me gripped all the way through.

I don't have anything negative to say about this book. It's well researched, well written and I now have a whole catalogue of RH books to get through. Recommended especially to those who enjoy historiacal and political fiction. Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC

Really enjoyed this book which is based on the letters sent between the prime minister and his much younger lady friend. As well as a gentle romance this is a historical account of how the world was and how fiction has added to the true story of the lives we hear about. This is not a period of history that I am familiar with but I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and the characters were likeable and loathsome as the author wanted us to believe them to be.

Highly recommend this book to all who enjoy a good read, a great story based on true events and a gentle love story with some wartime memories thrown in.

Thanks to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

An intriguing historical thriller by the master storyteller Robert Harris. At the outbreak of World War One the Liberal prime minister Herbert Asquith leads the country into war and confides in the much younger and vibrant socialite Venetia Stanley the most intimate political secrets. The author uses correspondence from Asquith to Venetia in the narrative which transcends the novel to another level. Robert Harris's best novel yet. Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for the arc.

I found this story riveting from start to finish. Not just the relationship between Venetia and Asquith but the insights into Government thinking and behaviour rior to outbreak of World War One. Fascinating to base a book on such a huge amount of genuine letters from a Prime Minister and match with hypothetical response from his young lover..Only a truly talented and experienced author could achieve such a feat.The rythm of the book kept me truly engaged.

A great story, a mixture of fact and fiction which helps with the understanding of the historical events and the names of the political figures.
Set around the outbreak of WW1 the events leading up to the involvement of Britain is explained much more clearly than any other history book 8 have read. Details of the cabinet meetings led by Asquith are taken from letters he wrote to his confident Venetia Stanley with whom he had a very close relationship.
The fictional characters include Detective Deemer, who had the laborious job of intercepting letters between Asquith and Stanley supposedly to check for the leaking of state secrets.
I found this book a helpful insight into the politics and life of the time without it being stuffy or confusing. I also enjoyed the sub plots.

Robert Harris is a master storyteller and this book shows him utilising his skill once again.
This is an absorbing fictionalised true read about the first war prime minister’s ever growing romantic obsession and recklessness from before the first war to his eventual political downfall. You might think reading a lot of compulsive love letters and occasional meetings would have limited interest, but their offering up national secrets as love tokens changes that and indeed informs us of the flow of the events of the war and about senior politicians and military (including a rather bellicose Churchill).

The backdrop of politics and the war, which dramatically fails to be over in months (don’t they all), weaves the history and personal together. There’s also a major thread about the state security apparatus investigation into the security implications which gives things a further detective, almost thriller dimension. I take the latter to be a more fictionalised part, though believable in essence.

I’m often wary of fictionalisations of true events because it’s often not clear where one ends and the other starts. But I had no irritation on that count with this one. Most enjoyable (The author also helpfully provides a short afterword commentary.)

The personal and the political combine to spellbinding effect in this historical novel set in the summer of 1914. Based on actual letters from British Prime Minister Herbert Henry Asquith to his much younger lover, the socialite Venetia Stanley (her letters to him did not survive), Harris reimagines the febrile months leading up to the outbreak of World War 1.
When top-secret documents are found scattered in the British countryside detective Paul Deemer, a fictional creation, is tasked by Special Branch with finding the source of the leaks. He has encountered Venetia before when he looked into a drowning on a pleasure cruise on the Thames, but he is unprepared to discover that it is the Prime Minister himself who has been less than discreet in sharing vital strategic information with her about the frantic behind-the-scene machinations of a Europe teetering on the brink of disaster. It’s a political nightmare.
Asquith seesaws between master statesman and lovesick puppy as his lover pulls gently away from him and his position as prime minister becomes increasingly untenable. The master storyteller brilliantly illuminates high society and the origins of the war in this enlightening and entertaining read.

It’s the summer of 1914, unrest has started in Austria with an assassination. Prime Minister Asquith confides in Lady Venetia Stanley - they see each other regularly and correspond frequently. This correspondence takes on a possible security breach as he confides all cabinet conversations and telegrams. He is twice her age, both are flattered initially.
A basically true take of infatuation and the repercussions as the First World War starts to grip Europe.
Compelling and informative.

I was so lucky to be able to review this book from NetGalley

I have to say I am really late to the table with this author and wow I will be reading hos other novels.

The story is based on Asquith and Venetia original letters and wow this gave the read an insightful window into their love affair. There was more to these letters than just an affair - as World War 1 was becoming more and more of a reality and then during the war to end all wars there is a great deal of politics and decisions.

An inteligence officer is brought in to investigate a leak of top secret documents - and of course the relationship and letter is not just about sex- this could alter the course of politics and history.

So well researched and wow what a story.

A recommended read.

This was such an intriguing book.
I couldn’t quite believe that it was based on true events!
Real letters were cleverly interwoven with their imagined replies and story.

This is a real masterpiece and amazing insight in to the hubris of politics of the age. It certainly puts some of today’s political scandals into a different light.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the copy to review. I thoroughly enjoyed it!!

Love, War and Obsession: H.H. Asquith, Venetia Stanley and the 1st World War 4.5 rating

Robert Harris was a journalist before he became a novelist. This means, in his case, he is accustomed to forensic research and the investigation of facts, whilst also having the ability to give the dryness of facts, the minutes of meetings, shape, colour and vitality.

Precipice is absorbing and deeply shocking. It recounts how this country moved towards that fatal. Horrific 1914-1918 war, through the recounting of meetings by various factions and individuals in Cabinet and outside it.

The deeply shocking elements come from a single source – passionate, revealing letters disclosing information of national security, written by Liberal Prime Minister H.H. Asquith, aged 61, to 26 year old socialite Venetia Stanley. Clearly there was intense, reciprocated passion between the two. The ‘shocking’ does not lie in the fact of that mutual passion, nor even that Asquith was a married man. Rather, it is because in Asquith’s letters, at a time when this country was moving inexorably towards war, and then into war itself, Asquith was giving Venetia the details of Cabinet meeting, including proposed military actions, and even sending her decoded ‘flimsies’ detailing such actions and their results. And sending these through the post.

Venetia kept Asquith’s letters, and they came into public knowledge and as source material decades after the people involved had all died. Asquith though, destroyed her letters at some point.

So, Harris uses the reality of Asquith’s voice, and other historical sources detailing the political considerations of the day, but imagines (wonderfully) Venetia’s epistolary responses.

He also creates a fictional character, a policeman, later within the secret service, tasked with investigating potential security breaches which had come to the knowledge of some. Even if Deemer (his policeman) did not exist, there were of course those who were involved in the investigations within the security services

The only reason I couldn’t go quite to a straight 5 star rating , is because, years later, I am still so much in thrall to the brilliance of Harris’ ‘Act of Oblivion’, and ‘An Officer and a Spy’ both, similarly this wonderful combination of thorough research fleshed out with the novelist’s imagination of character, from known facts, and his ability to create dramatic, shaping narrative. I suspect long dead history may give a greater freedom to explore character.

Nonetheless, highly recommended

Typically brilliant blending of fact and cracking fiction from Robert Harris. Refreshing to see this applied to the First World War rather than the usual Second World War. Readable in the extreme and taught and thrilling blend of fact and fiction. Highly recommended.

Although the affair between the PM H H Asquith and Venetia Stanley is not a secret it is still unbelievable the the PM wrote to her, disclosing confidential war information. A well written and well researched novel that tells the story of the events around the beginning of WW1. A few subplots along the way keep this novel interesting and not just a research book full of facts.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book.

A fantastic read from an author that I knew but had never read. I'm so glad I did and will be reading his others. This was so interesting about the goings-on leading up to the first world war. Loved it. My thanks to netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.