A review by howardbatey
The Levant Trilogy by Olivia Manning

adventurous lighthearted reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I read Manning's Levant Trilogy after reading the preceding Balkan Trilogy, the central (and some of the peripheral characters) are the same so there is a natural continuation of the broader story, but I felt that the Levant Trilogy was generally better - and a more satisfying read - than the Balkan Trilogy.  Both trilogies are centred on a young married couple, Guy and Harriet Pringle, who married in haste in August 1939 and are only really discovering each other while being overseas from wartime Britain, though the war brings its own stresses to them personally and professionally.  The Levant Trilogy focuses more on Harriet, who is fighting for her own identity as an individual against her well-meaning but somewhat clueless husband.  The book are somewhat 'of their time', and some of the language and attitudes jar somewhat against contermporary sensibilities, but such incidents did not overly detract from the work for me.