Search results for ""Author Olivia Manning""

'Her gallery of personages is huge, her scene painting superb, her pathos controlled, her humour quiet and civilised' - Anthony Burgess'Glittering characterisation, sharp and eloquent writing' - Sunday Telegraph'Wonderfully entertaining' - ObserverBucharest, 1940. The city is on the brink of invasion and Guy and Harriet Pringle find their position growing ever more dangerous. Harriet longs for safety, while Guy's idealism frustrates his new wife. But when the Germans march in, Guy believes they must separate in a desperate bid to find safety, so Harriet leaves for Athens. The Spoilt City is a dramatic and colourful portrait of a city in turmoil, and of a young couple struggling to make their marriage work in the face of adversity.

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WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY RACHEL CUSK'A fantastically tart and readable account of life in eastern Europe at the start of the war' Sarah Waters'Wonderfully entertaining' ObserverAutumn, 1939. Newly-weds Guy and Harriet Pringle step aboard the train to Bucharest. Guy's lecturing job awaits, alongside friends and the ever-ardent Sophie - but for Harriet, alone and naive, it's a strange new life. As Guy's world collides with that of his new bride, Harriet realises how little she knows the man she has married. Manning's masterpiece, alive with exhilarating characters, is a haunting evocation of young love and the uncertainty of war.

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'Her gallery of personages is huge, her scene painting superb, her pathos controlled, her humour quiet and civilised' Anthony Burgess'So glittering is the overall parade - and so entertaining the surface - that the trilogy remains excitingly vivid; it amuses, it diverts and it informs, and to do these things so elegantly is no small achievement' Sunday Times'A fantastically tart and readable account of life in eastern Europe at the start of the war' Sarah WatersThe Balkan Trilogy is the story of a marriage and of a war, a vast, teeming, and complex masterpiece in which Olivia Manning brings the uncertainty and adventure of civilian existence under political and military siege to vibrant life.At the heart of the trilogy are newly-weds Guy and Harriet Pringle, who arrive in Bucharest - the so-called Paris of the East - in the autumn of 1939, just weeks after the German invasion of Poland. Guy's lecturing job awaits, alongside friends and the ever-ardent Sophie - but for Harriet, alone and naive, it's a strange new life. Other surprises follow: Romania joins the Axis, and before long German soldiers overrun the capital. The Pringles flee south to Greece, part of a group of refugees made up of White Russians, journalists, con artists, and dignitaries. In Athens, however, the couple will face a new challenge of their own...

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'So glittering is the overall parade - and so entertaining the surface - that the trilogy remains excitingly vivid' - Sunday Times'Wonderfully entertaining' - ObserverAthens, 1941. Harriet Pringle feverishly awaits news of her husband, trapped in the spoilt city of Bucharest. Yet when the young couple are reunited, Guy once again becomes absorbed in his work, leading Harriet to seek the attention of a handsome young officer. But when Greece is defeated and Europe starts to crumble around them, Guy and Harriet are forced to find a new strength amidst the devastation. Manning's exquisite observations on love, marriage and friendship during wartime are brought vibrantly to life.

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The classic World War II trilogy: 'The finest fictional record of the war produced by a British writer' Anthony BurgessAs Rommel advances in wartorn Egypt, the lives of the civilian population come under threat. One such couple are Guy and Harriet Pringle, who have escaped the war in Europe only to find the conflict once more on their doorstep, providing a volatile backdrop to their own personal battles.The civilian world meets the military through the figure of Simon Boulderstone, a young army officer who will witness the tragedy and tension of war on the frontier at first hand.An outstanding author of wartime fiction, Olivia Manning brilliantly evokes here the world of the Levant - Egypt, Jerusalem and Syria - with perception and subtlety, humour and humanity.

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