More than a decade has passed since Amanda Foreman burst onto the literary scene with her prize-winning and bestselling debut, Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire. Since then marriage, children and a move to New York have delayed the follow-up. But it’s been worth the wait because A World on Fire, charting Britain’s pivotal role in the American Civil War, is nothing less than a tour de force.

Born in England and brought up in America, Foreman can see the war from both perspectives and is the ideal guide for this fascinating tale of diplomatic intrigue and skulduggery. While her narrative concentrates on the four chief diplomatists – the Britons Lord John Russell and Lord Lyons,