Starred review from September 23, 2024
Bestseller Harris (Act of Oblivion) fictionalizes the real-life love affair between British prime minister H.H. Asquith and 26-year-old aristocrat Venetia Stanley in this fascinating historical thriller. In the summer of 1914, Stanley conceals her flirtations with the married Asquith from her upper-echelon social circle. Meanwhile, Det. Sgt. Paul Deemer responds to a call about a potential drowning, and crosses paths with Stanley. The narrative then stretches into the early days of WWI, with Asquith begrudgingly sending British forces to fight the Germans and detailing his distresses in tender letters to Stanley. As Asquith’s letters become increasingly forthcoming, someone in his cabinet starts leaking crucial government telegrams, leading Deemer to investigate. In the process, he begins to unravel Asquith and Stanley’s affair through their letters—many of which are authentically reprinted, some for the first time. Themes of national loyalty and the ravages of war permeate the novel, but Harris resists grandiosity, leaning on his background as a journalist to make the stakes feel at once personal and profound. Stanley, in particular, emerges as a fascinating historical figure, caught between a life of easy luxury and an intoxicating love for a desperate man several decades her senior. Readers will be astonished. Agent: Suzanne Gluck, WME.