A WORLD ON THE BRINK OF WAR. AN AFFAIR ON THE EDGE OF SCANDAL. FROM THE SUNDAY TIMES NUMBER ONE BESTSELLING AUTHOR A RICHARD AND JUDY BOOK CLUB PICK ?A riveting tale of politics, war and erotic obsession? Sunday Times ?His most enthralling yet . . . a slam dunk of a plot . . . extraordinary? Nicholas Coleridge, Independent ?Gripping . . . Harris also has the John le Carr? gift for showing how meetings can become a form of blood sport? Jake Kerridge, Telegraph 'Splendid' Max Hastings, Sunday Times Summer 1914. A world on the brink of catastrophe. In London, 26-year-old Venetia Stanley ? aristocratic, clever, 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 ? and suddenly what was a sexual intrigue becomes a matter of national security that 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.