Herbert Henry Asquith served as the British Prime Minister from 1908 to 1916. He took Great Britain and the British Empire into the First World War and was the last Liberal Prime Minister to command a majority government. Through his term as P.M. he was married to wealthy socialite Margot. Asquith was a bit of a drinker and enjoyed the company of younger women (he was in his early 60’s by the time of the Great War). He’d met and befriended Venetia Stanley (daughter of Edward Stanley, 4th Baron Sheffield) and had become close to her when Venetia accompanied a group including Asquith and his daughter Violet on a trip to Sicily. The pair were to become entangled in an affair and met up regularly and exchanged letters in the period 1912 to 1915. Asquith’s letters to Venetia were kept by the recipient and, to this day, are held at the Bodleian Library in Oxford. The collection comprises more than five hundred items. In his letters, Asquith declared his love and also shared many political and military secrets, and even sometimes included top secret documents. They comprise one-half of the story of a romance and also a unique insight into Asquith’s mind and actions during a pivotal moment in world history. In this book, Robert Harris does what he always does: he takes known facts and events and fills in the gaps with a good deal of conjecture. He’s a master at this – it’s what makes his novels so compelling. It seems that more than a hundred years ago, the postal system was much more efficient than it is today. In fact, deliveries in London at least were running at three times per day! In effect, letters were the text messages of the time. And Asquith made the most of this, often writing three letters each day, sometimes drafting them during meetings and debates. There’s a lot of love in the letters, but also – and increasingly so as time passes – a good deal of political and military commentary. Figures such as David Lloyd George, Edwin Montagu, and particularly Winston Churchill are regularly discussed. For me, this story started slowly. I found the romantic element to be interesting enough but hardly compelling. But once the events leading up to the war, and also the early parts of the war itself, became a substantial component then I was truly gripped. Clearly, the author had to assume some elements and even admits to inventing a key character in order to flesh out the tale, but much of this story is historical fact. It’s a gripping and also, in many ways, a sad tale: one for history buffs and the romantics too. Another top class effort from this terrific writer.

Precipice by Robert Harris is an extremely well-written book, weaving fact with fiction and perfect for fans of political scandal and historical fiction. It captures the intrigue and drama of H.H. Asquith’s letters to socialite and lover Venetia Stanley and the pivotal decisions leading to WW1.

Prime Minister Herbert Asquith is leading a country on the edge of war. A shooting in the Balkans has led to tensions across Europe and Britain must decide whether to support France and Russia or side with Germany. Whilst this is playing out, Asquith is in the throws of an affair with a much younger society woman, Venetia Stanley. As war looms his obsession becomes stronger leading to him divulging secrets that he shouldn't. Luckily Venetia keeps everything hidden but the Secret Service and the newspapers are not as keen on this. I really liked the perspective of this novel. The antecedents of the Great War are often written about but this is a story that takes an unusual viewpoint with strands covering differing different groups in society. Based on a series of letters discovered only after the death of the protagonists, it mixes biography and fiction wonderfully.

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 for a digital copy of this title. All opinions expressed are my own.

This is a very interesting book, written as it is about a time in our history where decisions were made that changed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people, and made in such arbitrary ways. The writing, as always with this author is excellent, and so well researched. Although I never really knew much about Herbert Asquith, and nothing about Venetia Stanley, I didn’t take to him, but found Venetia to be unusual for the era, in that she was a woman who took an interest in everything going on around her and wasn’t afraid to make her thoughts known. As with anything written about real people, there is a certain poetic license that an author must use, and like the author, I like to think of Venetia doing her ‘bit’ for the war effort. Thanks to NetGalley, the author and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.