[An] exceptional work of non-fiction - you couldn't just call it a history book, it's more than that . Rogoyska captures the historical moment with a rare combination of urgency and empathy . [She] has trawled memoirs from hotel staff and ex-officers, unearthing stories that are peculiarly resonant . This is a scintillatingly good book. I think it will win prizes - not least because it is subtly experimental . It slips in and out of the present tense like a contemporary novel . It feels thrillingly immersive. In fact, I've rarely felt such a sense of the historical moment.

Or indeed the present moment. Because if ever a book were about now as well as then, it's this one.