Perhaps the most interesting book I've read all year.

Autobiography of a somewhat Bertie Wooster chap with a talent for languages and bonhomie, who finds himeself as a junior diplomat at the end of WWI. The first section is his escape from arbitrary execution as a spy by the Bolsheviks, commuted to exile because he knew how to make friends in high and low places. Then a few years in Central Europe, mostly Prague, as the old empire of Austria-Hungary is dismantled and reformed. Again, it's his talent for simply being likable that carries him so far.

The political observations are erudite and insightful, the characters are engaging such that we genuinely want things to work out well for them. As a view of Europe at its darkest, this gives strong hints as to what can happen at the worst, across all of WWII, the collapse of Jugoslavia and why that became so violent, and even some lessons as to why brexit is such a dreadful idea.

Now to read the rest of his books. ( )