With themes of love, deception, rivalry and grand world events, this will be our biggest paperback campaign yet THE BOOK OF THE YEAR, THE TIMES, INDEPENDENT, SPECTATOR, i NEWS A RICHARD AND JUDY BOOK CLUB AND A SUNDAY TIMES SUMMER READS PICK 2025 'A riveting tale of politics, war and erotic obsession' Sunday Times 'A slam dunk of a plot . . . extraordinary' Nicholas Coleridge, Independent 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.

Details

ISBN13: 9781804941294
Format: Paperback / softback
Number of Pages: 544
Edition:
Publication Date: 26 Aug 2025
Publisher: Cornerstone
Publication City, Country: United Kingdom
Dimensions (cm): 19.7(H)x12.8(L)x3.4(W)364
Weight (gm): 364

Author Biography

Robert Harris is the author of fifteen bestselling novels- the Cicero Trilogy - Imperium, Lustrum and Dictator - Fatherland, Enigma, Archangel, Pompeii, The Ghost, The Fear Index, An Officer and a Spy, which won four prizes including the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction, Conclave, Munich, The Second Sleep, V2 and Act of Oblivion. His work has been translated into forty languages and nine of his books have been adapted for cinema and television. He lives in West Berkshire with his wife, Gill Hornby.

Reviews

I’m not fond of the word masterpiece, but this is a masterpiece -- Nigella Lawson
Gripping drama -- Jake Kerridge * Telegraph *
Brilliantly blurring fact and fiction, Sunday Times bestselling author Robert Harris is back in full force * Dead Good Books - The best crime and thriller books of 2024 *
Fans of this hugely popular author should lap up this tale that mixes fact with fiction, as is his trademark * Sunday Express - Best Summer Reads *
'A beautifully crafted novel . . . a dexterous blend of the political and the personal . . . Precipice is Robert Harris's 16th novel, and there hasn’t been a dud among them' -- Allan Massie * The Scotsman *
Precipice hones in on those vital summer days when Britain hovered on the brink of war, before plunging into the abyss that arguably destroyed European civilisation * Spectator *
Robert Harris is one of those authors you know you can rely on. His 16th novel, Precipice, is no exception * The Times *
Robert Harris is a sort of genius . . . I am knocked out by the assurance of his portrait of a time, a relationship, and the perils to which Britain’s leader exposed himself amidst a supreme historic catastrophe. The book is yet another triumph for the author -- Max Hastings
Few have mastered the alchemy of the popular historical novel quite like Harris * i News *
Rollicking . . . Harris’s best book since Conclave * Spectator *