Abdication - Hardcover

Abdication beautifully evokes the troubled thirties, with its high-stakes politics, easy money and social tensions. Juliet Nicolson is an outstanding historian who brings the full panoply of her talent and research to the task of recreating the abdication crisis and its effect on Britain. This is a wonderful novel (Amanda Foreman)

With her keen eye for historical detail and intimate knowledge of England's social mores, Juliet Nicolson weaves a juicy and evocative tale of lives caught in the midst of one of Britain's great modern dramas, the abdication of King Edward VIII (Tina Brown)

Superb ... a delightful story of a friendship forged by the drama of the Abdication and the approaching war; ideal for the intelligent deckchair (Kate Saunders, The Times Review)

Exhilaratingly rich in period details ... Nicolson brings Edward and Wallis's relationship to vivid life, artfully conveying Edward's infatuation and Wallis's brittle social-butterfly charm (Leyla Sanai, Independent)

This is definitely the abdication as you never read it before, and difficult to put down on the beach (Antonia Fraser, Sunday Telegraph Summer Reads)

Juliet Nicolson's busy novel brings a turbulent period to vivid life ... the cast of kings and courtiers, American socialites and upper-class fascists grips throughout (Max Davidson, Mail on Sunday)

Impressive in its scope and ambition ... Nicolson is encyclopaedic in her portrayal of a fascinating period of history (Daily Telegraph)

Real and created characters are mixed so credibly, readers might wonder which is which. Nicholson brings the past alive with the panache one would expect from such a fine social historian. The story moves with all the elegance of the Chief Whip's Rolls Royce (Scotsman)

A vivid reimagining ... a thoroughly absorbing novel. Juliet Nicolson combines a historian's deep knowledge and eye for telling detail with a keen sense of drama, a dash of romance, and an understanding of the complex motivations of human nature (Sally Bedell Smith)

Anyone interested in the 1930's will revel in this richly detailed slant on the abdication crisis (Daisy Goodwin)