The Spoilt City: The Balkan Trilogy 2
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By Olivia Manning
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‘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’ – Observer
Bucharest, 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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The trilogy is getting better as it goes, or maybe I'm just getting used to the way she writes and becoming familiar with the characters. This volume is set in Bucharest in 1940 and as the German invasion is anticipated we see portraits of a struggling city and a struggling marriage. Gripping stuff and as it finishes on a bit of a cliffhanger it looks like Vol 3 is now an inevitable read.
