Author interview: A moment when the world tips over into something else

In 'Precipice' Robert Harris sees 1914 — the year of the outbreak of the First World War — as the great watershed in Western history

Robert Harris: They had promised Home Rule and they simply had to deliver it. And equally the Tory party under Bonar Law and with Carson was adamant that they would not allow a fully united Ireland. Picture: Getty Images

• Precipice 
• Robert Harris ‎ 
• Hutchinson Heinemann, €16.99