This has been recommended to me many times since it was first published in 2015. I’ve slightly put off reading it as I thought it might be a bit dry. It wasn’t.

The book is about the last sailing of the Lusitania, the passenger liner whose sinking in 1915 by a German U-boat made a major contribution to the US’s decision to abandon neutrality and fight for the allies in the First World War.

This was a properly riveting read, with chapters shifting between intimate portraits of life on board that final voyage, the submariners on board U-20, the code breakers in London, and President Wilson in the White House. I appreciated too that Larson didn’t answer every question. The reasoning behind some of the decisions which led to Lusitania’s sinking are lost to history, and Larson reflects that rather than trying to tie up every loose end.

This comes highly recommended.