Fortunes of War: The Balkan Trilogy

The Fortunes of Waris a teeming, complex, and rich novel, alive with the uncertainty and adventure of civilian life during wartime. Olivia Manning has filled the pages of this epic work with vivid characters who, over the course of nearly a thousand pages, tell the larger story of Europe during the trauma of the Second World War. Harriet and Guy Pringle are young newlyweds when they arrive in Bucharest from England, eager to experience life in that cosmopolitan city. It is the autumn of 1939, only a few weeks after Germany's invasion of Poland, and nobody thinks the war will go on for very longthough troop movements and treaties are the only topic of conversation. By the time the Pringles realize that they are in the middle of a worldwide conflict, it is too late to return home. The only thing to do is to join the great mass of displaced peopleWhite Russians, journalists, attaches, and con artistsand move east to Athens. Manning's mastery of the long form allows her to expand both outward and inward, tackling complexities of world politics and interpersonal relationships with equal panache.

Olivia Manning (1908—1980) wrote more than twelve novels, including her celebrated The Fortunes of War series. In addition to her novels, Manning wrote essays and criticism, history, a screenplay, and a book about cats. NYRB Classics published Manning’s School for Love in 2009.

Rachel Cusk is the author of several works of fiction and non-fiction.  Saving Agnes won the 1993 Whitbread First Novel Award and Arlington Park was shortlisted for the 2007 Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction.   In 2003 Cusk was chosen by Granta magazine as one of their "Best Young British Novelists". Her latest book is a memoir, The Last Supper: A Summer in Italy.