Review by Booklist Review
Readers looking for a rumbustious thriller may be drawn to this by the title of the latest by the ever-popular Harris, and early scenes are promising. Readers will join a group of toffs in early-twentieth-century England as a boating party goes bad, and someone drowns under mysterious circumstances. Welcome detective sergeant Paul Deener, solidly in the tradition of trench-coated, well-mannered British cops. Before his investigation takes off, the scene shifts to the lair of the mighty. Here Prime Minister Asquith deals with the coming war; there's a public yearning for it, he finds. Readers might wonder what's become of the crime story? Turns out Harris' attention is drawn to the touching romance between the middle-aged minister ("sighing like a furnace," as Shakespeare said) and the twentysomething aristocrat Venetia Stanley, which really happened. Harris quotes liberally from Asquith's swoony letters. Her letters to him haven't survived. Readers still hoping for a detective yarn will have their patience rewarded when Deener reappears. Those letters may include state secrets and he must uncover them. It's a joy to watch him work.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
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. (Sept.)
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
A World War I novel of love, politics, and a continent gone mad. In 1914, British prime minister H.H. Asquith, a 61-year-old married man, carries on an affair with 26-year-old Venetia Stanley. Those surrounding the two know of their friendship but not of its depth, though some wonder. Asquith harbors an obsession with Venetia--when they're apart, he writes her letters up to three times a day, expecting and generally receiving prompt responses. Meanwhile, DS Paul Deemer investigates the accidental drowning of Asquith's son. Since Venetia was listed as a witness, he questions her. But with a war in the offing, he's told by higher-ups at Scotland Yard to also quietly investigate the odd relationship that some suspect. "Prime," as Venetia calls her lover, feels the constant need to tell her what's happening at the office. When war breaks out, he shares secret information with her: troop requirements, battle losses, ammunition shortages--all by regular mail, reminding her not to share what she learns. "The enclosed telegram from our Ambassador at Petersburg wh. came on Friday night will interest you," one note says. The narrator notes: "A thin sheet of Foreign Office paper was a poor exchange for sweet verbena, but it was the only bouquet he had. What greater proof could he offer of his love, of his dependence on her, of his absolute confidence in her loyalty and discretion?" Never mind dependence; the man is nearly driven to distraction. Meanwhile, Deemer steams open the intercepted envelopes, reports to his boss, and sends the letters on their way. German spies are thought to be everywhere in Britain. Fortunately, Deemer is not one of them. A grisly war is on, to which politicians and generals send young men to die by the tens of thousands, to the benefit of no one. Over 100,000 soldiers on both sides perish at the Dardanelles in Turkey because of Churchill's insistence on attacking there. The world has indeed gone mad, but Venetia hasn't. She wants to become a frontline nurse, but to do that she must extricate herself from her needy lover. The pair are real historical figures, while Deemer is fictional. The letters from Asquith are genuine, while the author invented those from Venetia. Asquith apparently burned them. A foolish affair and a horrible war that will grab and hold readers' attention. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
