Olivia Manning était une romancière britannique dont la fiction et la non-fiction détaillent fréquemment des voyages et des odyssées personnelles. S'inspirant abondamment de ses propres expériences, tout en faisant preuve d'un vif talent imaginatif, ses récits se déroulent en Angleterre, en Irlande, en Europe et au Moyen-Orient. Son œuvre est largement admirée pour son regard artistique et ses descriptions vivantes des lieux, immergeant les lecteurs dans des décors variés. Les romans les plus célèbres de Manning, nés de ses expériences vécues durant des périodes tumultueuses en Europe de l'Est, démontrent sa profonde capacité à capturer l'esprit humain au milieu des bouleversements.
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.
In The Levant Trilogy Olivia Manning returns to the story of the young English couple Guy and Harriet Pringle, last seen, at the end of The Balkan Trilogy, departing from Athens ahead of the invading Nazi army. Now, in the spring of 1941, they arrive in Egypt as Rommel’s forces slowly but surely approach Cairo across the Sahara from the west. Will the city fall? In the streets the people contemplate welcoming a new set of occupiers, while European refugees and well-heeled Anglo-Egyptians prepare to pack their bags. And at night, everyone who is anyone flocks to the city’s famed hotels and seedy cabarets, seeking one last dance before the tanks roll in. Manning describes the Pringles’ ever complicated marriage and their motley group of friends and foes with the same sharp eye that earned The Balkan Trilogy a devoted following. And she also traces the fortunes of a marvelously drawn new character, Simon Boulderstone, a twenty-year-old recruit who must grapple with the boredom, chaos, and fleeting exhilaration of war.
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.
The 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. Manning's focus is not the battlefield but the café and kitchen, the bedroom and street, the fabric of the everyday world that has been irrevocably changed by war, yet remains unchanged. At the heart of the trilogy are newlyweds Guy and Harriet Pringle, who arrive in Bucharest--the so-called Paris of the East--in the fall of 1939, just weeks after the German invasion of Poland. Guy, an Englishman teaching at the university, is as wantonly gregarious as his wife is introverted, and Harriet is shocked to discover that she must share her adored husband with a wide circle of friends and acquaintances. 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, as great in its way as the still-expanding theater of war.
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.
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.
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
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
'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.
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.
