Customer Reviews

The Balkan Trilogy

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I'm practically in mourning since I finished reading the last book in the Balkan Trilogy. Luckily, the story continues in the Levant Trilogy, which I plan to read soon. The three books of the Balkan Trilogy--The Great Fortune, The Spoiled City, and Friends and Heroes--tell the story of Guy and Harriet Pringle, a British couple living in Romania at the beginning of WWII. The story has many layers. First, there's a sense of place. Manning does a superb job describing Bucharest--a so-called Paris of the east--before the Iron Curtain fell. The beggars, the peasants, the demolition of beautiful old buildings, the gardens, cafes and restaurants, the abundent food. It all makes a colorful picture. Next is the story of the Pringles' friends: the hapless Prince Yakimov who has nothing but his witty repartee to recommend him, Clarence, who has a crush on Harriet, Inchcape, the stiff-upper-lip Brit, Dobson the diplomat, Sascha, the Jewish refugee they shelter in their apartment, Sophie, the Romainian student who has designs on Guy. All these characters are well drawn. Finally, these novels are the story of a marriage, told mainly from Harriet's perspective, we see the stress of being married to a Personality.

The author's note states that the books are written so that each can be read individually and independently from their mates. I think the story is much richer if all three books are read together, in order. The first novel sets the stage. In the second, the plot thickens. In the third, the Pringles have fled to Athens, one step ahead of the Nazis. By the end, they have become refugees, packed onto a decrepit ship headed for Egypt as the Nazis advance into Greece. The abundent food of the first novel is long gone. They are hungry and dirty, have had to abandon most of their possesions and even toilet paper is a precious commodity. (Each lady is given three squares: one wipe up, one down, and one polisher.) I can't wait to read the Levant Trilogy.

This book is out of print and hard to find, but deserves better. It's not perfect - it's a girl book lengthy in human nuance and short on action - but it gives a superb view of life on the ground in Eastern Europe as World War II begins.

The action is seen primarily through the eyes of Harriet Pringle, a newlywed from England who accompanies her husband Guy back to his job in Bucharest, just as the war begins, Germany and then Russia dismantle Poland, and Polish refugees flood into town. A newcomer, Harriet slowly finds her feet among the English-speaking émigré community, their numbers swelled by the flotsam of war. Characters like the impoverished Prince Yakimov, a freeloading raconteur, both embellish and complicate the Pringles' life, as do various diplomats, travelers, teachers and scam artists. Guy is a good-hearted and generous left-winger inclined to interpret all events through the lens of revolution healing all ills. Harriet isn't so sure, and sees Guy continually taken advantage of because of his good nature. She slowly comes to resent how much of himself he gives to others while neglecting her.

She finds companionship with the wealthy Bella, an Englishwoman married to a Romanian, a society belle, and with Clarence, a morose Englishman who slowly falls for her. Yakimov, a white Russian émigré and the now-penniless widower of a wealthy woman, moves in with the Pringles when he has no place to go. They also find themselves hiding Sasha, fugitive son of a wealthy Jew, and a marked man.

What happens in the three novels as the situation darkens, and as the action moves to Athens, gives one an unusual taste of the life of that period and of a corner of the war rarely written about in English, but fascinating nonetheless. In Athens, there is little illusion left about avoiding the war, only worry about whether the Greeks can hold against the Italians, whether the Germans will come in against them, whether the British will commit, and if so whether they can deliver. Manning has a fine eye for social detail, habits and mores, bringing the intense politics of the time to life as travelers and natives alike align themselves for the imminent storm.

This is a thoroughly enjoyable book with wonderful detailed descriptions of civilian life during the early years of World War II in the Balkans. I loved the characters in the book, especially the Pringles and Prince Yakimov.

I picked up this book in a little used book store on SaltSpring Island in Canada whilst on holiday. It is a well written and very interesting look at the lives of several British nationals caught behind enemy lines in the early years of WWII. A smashing good read.