Precipice

**Pre-order Agrippa now: The thrilling new novel from Robert Harris, coming August 2026**

The number 1 bestseller
A Richard and Judy Book Club and a Sunday Times Summer Reads pick 2025

A world on the brink of war. An affair on the edge of scandal.

"A riveting tale of politics, war and erotic obsession" Sunday Times

"His most enthralling yet . . . 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.

"The king of the page-turning thriller" i Paper

"Harris's cleverness, judgment and eye for detail are second to none" Sunday Times

"Harris writes with a skill and ingenuity that few other novelists can match" Financial Times

"Harris is a master of historical fiction, a compelling author who brings to life the recent and ancient past" TLS

Robert Harris, Sunday Times bestseller, May 2024