Olivia Manning was a British novelist whose fiction and non-fiction frequently detail journeys and personal odysseys. Drawing richly from her own experiences, yet demonstrating a strong imaginative flair, her stories are set across England, Ireland, Europe, and the Middle East. Her work is widely admired for its artistic eye and vivid descriptions of place, immersing readers in diverse settings. Manning's most celebrated novels, born from her experiences during tumultuous times in Eastern Europe, showcase her profound ability to capture the human spirit amidst upheaval.
Athens, 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.
'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 TelegraphBucharest,
1940.
A compelling portrait of a relationship between a young man and a matriarch. Orphaned and friendless, young Felix Latimer comes to war-time Jerusalem to lodge with Miss Bohun, one of the most redoubtable (and ridiculous) of comic horrors in English fiction.
Fourteen subtle and beautifully written stories of varying theme and setting are brought together in this brilliant collection: haunting studies of lonely childhoods, shrewdly perceptive portraits of adult relationships and black comedies of domestic deadlock - all infused with Olivia Manning's precise and consistent wit.
Septembre 1939. Guy et Harriet Pringle, jeunes mariés, quittent Londres pour s'installer à Bucarest. Leur couple, pris dans la tourmente qui secoue l'Europe, va s'aimer et se déchirer sur fond d'Histoire, coincé loin de leur pays, en Roumanie, qui va leur devenir peu à peu hostile. Cette saga peuplée d'exilés, de réfugiés, fait l'objet d'une adaptation télévisée.
Pretty, brave and eighteen, Ellie has come to London in search of adventure.
She soon finds it in Quintin Bellot, the handsome but tired dilettante who
finds her a job in fashionable Chelsea. And Petta, his once beautiful wife, is
fighting back age as fiercely as Ellie is plunging into it.
As the British fight a desperate battle against the German forces in Egypt, Guy and Harriet Pringle are involved in their personal struggle with their marriage
Living and working in Rumania, Guy and Harriet Pringle are forced to evacuate to Greece before the advance of the German army. This classic work of post-war fiction was made into a magnificent BBC television series starring Emma Thompson and Kenneth Branagh.
Living and working in Rumania, Guy and Harriet Pringle are forced to evacuate to Greece before the advance of the German army. This classic work of post-war fiction was made into a magnificent BBC television series starring Emma Thompson and Kenneth Branagh.
A distinguished English novelist portrays Egypt and, in particular, life in Cairo during the Second World War when Rommel's offensive was at its height
Harriet Pringle travels with her husband by train through a war-threatened Europe towards the east. Guy has been working in Bucharest, and now he brings his young bride to this metropolis, a city caught between modernity and an Oriental jumble, where spies, military personnel, impoverished Russian nobles, dubious ladies, Nazi officials, and fleeing Jewish professors mingle in the grand and less grand hotels, cafés, and nightclubs. Their young marital bliss is far from untroubled. Although Harriet has much to ponder regarding the attractive Romanian Sophia and her husband's other suspicious contacts, she moves through the days before the impending catastrophe with eyes wide open, receptive to both the signs of looming disaster and the beauty of the bewildering foreignness around her. Everyone wonders: Will German tanks roll down the avenues tomorrow, or will the Red Army arrive? Meanwhile, the vibrant British expatriate community rehearses a Shakespearean play: Troilus and Cressida – the fall of Troy.
Jane Austen's brilliant satire of the gothic novel. “If adventures will not befall a young lady in her own village, she must seek them abroad.” The most sprightly and satirical of Austen’s novels, Northanger Abbey was written when the author was herself in her early twenties, and takes for its heroine seventeen-year-old Catherine Morland, a spirited young woman preoccupied with the pleasures of dressing, dancing, and reading sensational novels. When she visits Northanger Abbey, the ancestral home of handsome Henry Tilney, Catherine’s taste in books comes back to haunt her. The rambling house, full of locked doors, and the family’s mysterious history give rise to delightfully dreadful suspicions, and finally only Catherine’s sweet nature and good humor triumph over her susceptibility. A sly commentary on the power of literature as well as a cautionary tale about the perils of naïveté, Northanger Abbey is a fresh and funny tale of one young woman receiving, as Margaret Drabble reveals in her illuminating introduction, “intensive instruction in the ways of the world.” With an Introduction by Margaret Drabble and an Afterword by Stephanie Laurens
