La gran fortuna

A newlywed English couple, Guy and Harriet Pringle, arrive in Bucharest, the so-called Paris of the East, in the fall of 1939, just a few weeks after the German invasion of Poland. The inhabitants of this city full of contrasts, immersed in the uncertainty of war and political instability, cling to a vibrant daily life as chaos takes hold of Romania and the rest of Europe. Meanwhile, Harriet will begin to really get to know her husband, an outgoing university professor who surrounds himself with a lively social circle, and will try to find her place within that peculiar cast of uptight diplomats, wealthy ladies, seductive rogues and careerists. Based on the experiences of the author, this work began her acclaimed Balkan Trilogy, by which she would go down in the history of 20th century English literature. In it, Manning captures with extraordinary skill both the ups and downs of a marriage and the complex development of a war as it is breathed in the street. Due to its sharp humor, its splendid frieze of characters and its faithful historical recreation, it is considered one of the best British novels on the Second World War.