A gripping and compelling fictional account of the key meetings and events which led up to the outbreak of World War Two: how egos flourished, diplomacy failed, and a few powerful men brought Europe to the brink of disaster. For fans of HHhH and To Die in Spring.

WINNER OF THE 2017 PRIX GONCOURT
'A profoundly important book, simple, beautiful, deeply disturbing.' Philippe Sands, author of East West Street

'A tightly paced and gripping read . . . Vuillard has written a magnificently entertaining account that manages to capture the wild and uneven emotional climate of the 1930s and speaks too to our own era of liars, demagogues and politics as farce, which, as Vuillard deftly shows us, can slide all too quickly into tragedy.' Observer

'Remarkable . . . It captures the bizarre blend of wishful thinking, clownish self-importance, and cold calculation that characterized many of the Nazis' powerful enablers.' New Yorker

'A powerful story you read in one go, with astonishment and dread.' La Presse

'Brilliant . . . a lightning-like transformation of a tired, old, and far too often told story into a shocking new narrative.' Der Spiegel

[A] masterpiece . . . [Vuillard] illuminates in glorious and ugly precision how the concentration of wealth and power, a cult of personality, political corruption, bigotry, and narcissism are the necessary but sometimes ignored steps that lead to catastrophe.