Author:Olivia Manning
'So glittering is the overall parade - and so entertaining the surface - that the trilogy remains excitingly vivid' - Sunday Times
'Wonderfully entertaining' - Observer
Athens, 1941. Harriet Pringle feverishly awaits news of her husband, trapped in the spoilt city of Bucharest. Yet when the young couple are reunited, Guy once again becomes absorbed in his work, leading Harriet to seek the attention of a handsome young officer. But when Greece is defeated and Europe starts to crumble around them, Guy and Harriet are forced to find a new strength amidst the devastation. Manning's exquisite observations on love, marriage and friendship during wartime are brought vibrantly to life.
Magnificent ... full of wit, sharp insight and vivid description.
—— The TimesWonderfully entertaining
—— ObserverA fantastically tart and readable account of life in eastern Europe at the start of the war
—— Sarah WatersSo glittering is the overall parade ... and so entertaining the surface that the trilogy remains excitingly vivid; it amuses, it diverts and it informs, and to do these things so elegantly is no small achievement'
—— Sunday TimesOne most salute the brilliance ... the exactness of sights and sounds, the precise touches of light and scent, the gestures and entrances.
—— GuardianA delicate, tough, mesmerising epic that grabs you by the hand and takes you straight into war, flight, and a complex and vulnerable young marriage
—— Louisa YoungI shall be surprised, and, I must admit, dismayed if the whole work is not recognized as a major achievement in the English novel since the war. Certainly it is an astonishing recreation.
—— New York TimesGlittering characterisation, sharp and eloquent writing.
—— Sunday TelegraphAn important 20th-century writer who paints a complex relationship between gender and power with wit and sensitivity.
—— Lauren Elkin, author of FlâneuseLush and lyrical - and darkly funny even at its most gut-punching - Olivia Manning's Balkan Trilogy manages to simultaneously be a sweeping panorama of a Europe in crisis and a discomfitingly intimate portrait of a no-less-broken marriage.
—— Tara Isabella Burton, author of Social CreatureAn addictive, gripping literary saga ... A sharp portrait of a young marriage under pressure and a vivid picture of being a Brit in an increasingly hostile and impoverished corner of Europe.
—— The TimesOlivia Manning takes autobiographical writing to a refreshingly new dimension. In The Balkan Trilogy she follows the well-worn mantra that authors should write about what they know, but she does so without sounding self-centred, a quality that so often dogs memoirs. Her's reads like wholly invented fiction with made-up, yet believable characters. It has been such a joy to re-read Manning's Trilogy...Manning's characterisation throughout the Trilogy is excellent. Her most astute depiction of a person in genuine inner conflict with himself is Guy Pringle...The author's depiction of Bucharest and the places Harriet and Guy visit are bold and colourful.
—— BookmunchThe Suffragette movement and pre-war country cricket might seem an odd couple for a novel but Anthony Quinn marries them perfectly in a nostalgic and compelling tale whose themes of love and friendship on and off the pitch will appeal to lovers of romance and cricket alike.
—— The CricketerTrench warfare is vividly described: the agonizing wait for dawn, the despairing bravery of those going 'over the top', the futility, the waste, the sadness. Anthony Quinn tells this part of his tale faultlessly, and without a cliché... poetic.
—— Mary Blanche Ridge , The TabletNot just an exhilarating love story... a bold, impressive novel
—— Waitrose WeekendWith crisp prose and evocative description, Anthony Quinn's second novel embodies early 20th century Britain with aplomb and exhumes a political plight that still has great relevance
—— Eastern Daily PressSet at the same time as E. M. Forster's novels, this intelligent antidote to Downton Abbey is written with wit, narrative craft and elegant prose.
—— Daily Telegraph (Five stars)Quinn’s novel concerns the stalling romance between a suffragette and a cricketer, set amid war and middle-class Edwardian mores. This chalk-and-cheese couple and their stifling environment are equally well crafted
—— Holly Kyte , Sunday TelegraphThe characters are subtly drawn and the period touches, particularly the sporting passages, have an authentic ring
—— Simon Shaw , Daily MailIs a heartbreaking, riveting portrait of modern Israel. A family story, a rich character study, a story of war. Unmissable.
—— Erica Wagner , The Times, Christmas round upA work of art
—— Rachel Cooke , New Statesman, Christmas round upFirst-rate writing about the craziness of modern-war.
—— Simon Schama , Daily Telegraph, Christmas round upBreathtaking skill...an extraordinary emotional charge.
—— Colm Toibin , Guardian, Christmas round upDavid Grossman laid bare the flayed soul of Israel
—— Boyd Tonkin , Independent, Christmas round upArticulates the pain and complexity of being born in Israel so powerfully that it will unquestionably be studied by future generations.
—— Nick Barley , Herald, Christmas round upMagnificent
—— Katherine Duncan-Jones , Times Literary Supplement, Christmas round upOften impressive, sometimes touching
—— Neal Ascherson , London Review of BooksHe is the finest living novelist I have read. His work is visceral and clear-headed. Though I loved Franzen's Freedom, Grossman's novel is better
—— Stella Tillyard , ObserverTo define David Grossman's masterly new novel as the ultimate anti-war oeuvre would not do it justice...To the End of the Land is richer and more complex than a chronicle of war. It is an intimate portrayal of a woman and mother, Ora, who has been compared to Flaubert's Emma or Tolstoy's Anna...With characters with whom the reader can empathise, a powerful if disturbing theme and an element of suspense and the unknown, Grossman's novel, while not easy to read, is well worth the effort
—— Emma Klein , TabletFurther proof the Very Long Novel is in rude health with David Grossman's fine book about the seemingly endless conflict between Israel and Palestine
—— MetroMovingly evokes the strains of war and peace in one Israeli household
—— Theo Tait , Sunday TimesGrossman's soaring, wrenching journey through Israel ... grapples with the largest of themes: memory and identity, community and nationhood. Yet through its picaresque plot, it always remains a mother's story and a family romance... Grossman aims high, digs deep, and returns from inner and outer voyages with darkly glittering jewels of insight
—— IndependentAn intimate and national epic
—— Colin Waters , HeraldA stunning, powerful novel
—— TelegraphTo the End of the Land is a novel of relationships: personal, moral and political: all reviewed against a muted landscape of pain, threat and hostility... Grossman list his youngest son Uri in the final hours of the second Lebanon war and his personal connection to the trauma of conflict adds weight to this substantial work
—— James Urquhart , Financial Times