From the author of Slammerkin, a gripping historical novel about three famous Londoners - an artist, an actress and an aristocrat - based on a true scandal of 18th century London.

A love story. A gamble. A battle. Let the games begin.

It's an era of looming war, and the erosion of freedom in the name of national security. A time of high art and big business, trashy spectacles and financial disasters. Celebrities are hounded by journalists, who serve up private passions alongside public crises. Marriages stretch or break, and so do friendships; political liaisons prove as dangerous as erotic ones. In Parliament, on stage, in the bedroom, at the race track, round the dinner table, old loyalties are wrenched by the winds of change. The World - as elite calls itself - is fighting to survive these chaotic times.