Manning wrote a total of six novels in the collection known as "Fortunes of War" - this book ("The Balkan Trilogy" includes the first three: The Great Fortune (1960), The Spoilt City (1962) and Friends And Heroes (1965).Another 900+ page work; another effort to get better acquainted with the Balkans.
Story centers around newlyweds Guy and Harriet Pringle - married after a short courtship while Guy visits London in summer 1939; they settle in Bucharest, where he is involved in teaching. The story line revolves around two main themes: (1) developments in the war (German advances create big changes in Romania and eventually force the Pringles (and most of the Brit community in Romania) to Athens (which is as far as the Pringles venture in this trilogy), Cairo, etc.; (2) the Pringles get to know each other better, which isn't always uplifting. Based on the author's own experiences.
Sometimes this felt a bit like a mere page-turner, but I do think there's quite a bit going on. Very interesting to read about the experiences of British citizens residing in these places in the run-up to the war - the best perspective I've gotten on what that might have been like. Also interesting to read about late 1930s Romania. And the story line about the relationship of the newlyweds was handled well. So I liked this . . . but not sure it was worth 900 pages of effort . . . except it was ideal gym-reading.
Prince Yakimov; Lord Pinkrose; Sasha; many, many other characters are introduced - primarily Brits with various positions, but also Romanian and Greek characters.
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