I thought at first that Manning's realistic characters was what made the story so darn addictive, but then realized that they would have to be as detailed as the environment in which they lived. It is clear that the author had similar experiences from which to draw and she manages to do it beautifully. While giving each character (and there are several) a well-rounded life and story Manning managed to also be able to illustrate a growing fascist environment while discussing the politics of the late '30s/early '40s. There are dozens of sharply delineated characters in the Balkan trilogy - and Manning has a real gift for tragicomic flair, as in her depiction of Yakimov and his visit to his Nazi friend. As the Nazis come ever closer, an act of treachery puts the couple in terrible danger, and with Romania in enemy hands, they are forced to leave the country. Fleeing to Athens, and then Egypt, their marriage comes under increasing strain amidst the chaos and upheaval of war. With the future uncertain, can they find the strength and resilience to face it together?

As the story begins, Guy and Harriet Pringle are arriving in Romania after a sudden romance and marriage during his leave in England. Now he resumes his lecturing duties in the university and Helen tries to fit in. But the turmoil of Western Europe is now reaching East and Britain's ally is weakening. We become bystanders for all levels of conflict as the Romanian people undergo internal strife, pogroms, onslaught of those fleeing war in other countries, and, ultimately, the realization that the Germans will come. Throughout this the reader also is witness to multiple interpersonal vignettes: the Pringle's marriage, the members of the British Consul, Yakimov ("poor Yaki"), the students and other teachers. Then the escape to Greece. Who will make it to Greece and will Greece be safe? Seriously, the Nazis are coming, the Nazis are coming. So, let’s put on a stage production of Troilus and Cressida. Again, the Nazis are coming, the Nazis are coming. Should we do Othello? Or maybe Macbeth? Or can we do our part with a lecture, something to cheer the locals, like Byron: the Poet-champion of Greece? David is a generous and sympathetic biographer, even if she underlines some points too heavily. At every opportunity we are reminded of Manning's skill in fusing history and personal experience into fiction, or how brilliantly she wrote from the male perspective. At the same time, she is good at putting Manning into context – particularly in the postwar British literary scene. While Reggie was making his name as a producer in the BBC, Olivia grumbled about how critical admiration for "The Booksey Boys" – writers such as John Wain, Kingsley Amis and John Osborne – left women writers out in the cold. But when Iris Murdoch, Muriel Spark and Edna O'Brien rose to fame, Manning's resentment shifted as she brooded over their celebrity and press coverage. Why were they getting so much attention? Her books – she hadpublished six between the end of the war and 1960 – were just as good as theirs, she felt, but hers were consistently ignored. Clarence Lawson, a colleague of Guy's in Bucharest. An embittered cynic and moper, he is employed by the British propaganda bureau and on relief to Polish refugees.The rather boring and repetitive accounts of the British lives are offset by Yakimov’s positively dangerous adventures, which include giving the Gestapo the impression that Guy is a terrorist, and visiting his old friend Freddi, now a Gauleiter, who is not as welcoming as Yaki would like. Yaki is a great character, bringing plenty of drama and humour to the story. Friends and Allies" finds Guy and Harriet in Athens, where they fled after the fall of Rumania into Nazi hands. The two were married after a very brief wartime courtship, and at first Harriet adores Guy and finds him fascinating and brilliant. It doesn't take long for her to realize his shortcomings, mainly his selfishness and self-centeredness regarding anything but his "work". This book finds her contemplating the wisdom of her marriage as she realizes that Guy is unlikely to change. Manning επιμένει στην εναργή αποτύπωση της γυναικείας ψυχολογίας μιας εκπροσώπου της ανώτερης μεγαλοαστικής αγγλικής τάξης. Η Χάριετ είναι μία γυναίκα δυναμική,γεμάτη ενέργεια και όρεξη για ζωή, την οποία όμως ο σύζυγός της αφήνει διαρκώς μόνη. Το αποτέλεσμα είναι να αισθάνεται παραμελημένη και να θελήσει να κάνει και η ίδια, κάποια στιγμή, την επανάστασή της με τον τρόπο της. Αγάπη υπάρχει φυσικά μεταξύ του ζεύγους, όμως η Χάριετ ξέρει πολύ καλά ότι αυτό δεν αρκεί. Και ο Γκάι αγαπάει τη γυναίκα του, αγαπάει, όμως, ίσως λίγο περισσότερο τη δουλειά του, δηλαδή τη διδασκαλία των φοιτητών, με την οποία δηλώνει ερωτευμένος.

In this second trilogy of Guy and Harriet Pringle, we learn more of their marriage, their travels from Budapest to Greece to Egypt during WWII, their friends, and the Battle of El Alamein (both of them).

As in the other novels though, it is Harriet Pringle who remains centre stage in the story. She watches Edwina’s doomed pursuit of Peter and Angela’s odd obsession with the drunken Castlebar, both married men, with concern. As always, Guy is obsessed with work – he has now also been promoted and relishes his new responsibility to run the organisation. Giving lectures, finding teachers, organising entertainment for the troops. He pays little attention to Harriet and treats her as though she is little more than a nuisance. When she becomes ill, and Guy takes a gift Angela has given her to pass on to Edwina, Harriet decides to return to England.

Somewhere near Venice, Guy began talking wit a heavy, elderly man, a refugee from Germany on this way to Trieste. Guy asked questions. The refugee eagerly replied. Neither seemed aware when the train stopped.

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But hunger is there: A nightclub singer, Florica, who “…had the usual gypsy thinness and was as dark as an Indian…[was] singing there among the plump women of the audience, she was like a starved wild kitten spitting at cream-fed cats.” Beggars are everywhere: “A man on the ground, attempting to bar their way, stretched out a naked leg bone-thin, on which the skin was mottled purple and rosetted with yellow scabs. As [Harriet] stepped over it, the leg slapped the ground in rage that she should escape it.” The story is also reminiscent of activities in our own country where people of a certain point of view conspire together (consciously and by loose alignment of goals) to take over a government to pursue their particular agenda. Hopefully, some portion of the population will continue to read history and learn from humanity's failures of the past. Let's work hard to avoid a nuclear war, shall we?