Precipice, by Robert Harris

History is rife with unofficial advisors occupying positions of startling political influence. Among the most beguiling is Venetia Stanley, the fizzy 26-year-old socialite with whom the Liberal PM HH Asquith became obsessed during the build-up to World War I. As the Irish question and an increasingly hawkish Winston Churchill dominate cabinet meetings, Robert Harris draws on a cache of previously unseen letters to paint an extraordinary portrait of a sexagenarian preoccupied with scribbling devoted missives to his paramour (the postal service at that time made up to 12 deliveries a day). He would show her confidential documents during their clandestine drives around London, prompting a police investigation into a suspected leak. Harris has fashioned a dazzling political thriller out of politicians idly distracted at moments of international crisis that would feel scarcely believable if it didn’t put one in mind of the behaviour of the Tory government during the Covid pandemic.