The World: A Family History. By Simon Sebag Montefiore. W&N; 1,344 pages; £35.
To be published in America by Knopf in May; $45 Don’t be put off by the doorstopper length: this history of the world, told through the stories of eminent families, is a riveting page-turner. The author brings his cast of dynastic titans, rogues and psychopaths to life with pithy, witty pen portraits, ladling on the sex and violence. An epic that both entertains and informs.