{"product_id":"the-spoilt-city","title":"The Spoilt City","description":"\u003cp dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMANNING, Olivia \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Spoilt City\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eLondon: Heinemann, 1962\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e8vo., bright blue publisher’s boards, lettered in gilt to spine; together in the unclipped pictorial dustwrapper (18s net to front flap) featuring a vibrant design by John Raynes; pp. [xi], 4-319, [i]; the book very good, some splaying to the boards and sunning to backstrip with tips of spine a little darkened and pushed; sporadic spotting to the outer edges of the text block; occasionally encroaching onto prelims; the wrapper similarly very good, with upper panel almost entirely unfaded; a little darkened along folds, spine and edges with some marking to the lower panel and spotting mostly affecting the verso; some nicks and rubbing to spine ends. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFirst edition\u003c\/strong\u003e.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e The second title in Olivia Manning’s ‘Balkan trilogy’, a series of works based upon her experiences during the Second World War. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eManning married Reggie Smith in 1939, and her life was subsequently characterised by her travels in Europe and the Middle East. She journeyed between Bucharest, Romania, Greece, Egypt, and British Mandatory Palestine during the middle of the 20th century, as the Nazis overran Eastern Europe. The present work follows the 1960 publication of ‘The Great Fortune’, and picks up the thread in Romania, where protagonists Guy and Harriet Pringle (based on Manning and her husband) are surrounded by a host of characters including professors and princes, and the seriousness of war is juxtaposed with humour: “Bucharest is a capital of rumours, betrayals, arrests, a stage on which every human absurdity is magnified by the deadly seriousness of its context”, the dustwrapper states. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eTogether with \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe Levant Trilogy\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, The Balkan Trilogy became known as ‘The Fortunes of War’, and was praised by Anthony Burgess as \"the finest fictional record of the war produced by a British writer\". Manning did achieve some success during her lifetime, however her greatest fame was perhaps posthumous, when in 1987 her books were adapted for television starring Kenneth Branagh as Guy Pringle and Emma Thompson as Harriet.  \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eA lovely copy. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Fold the Corner Books ","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56709419499844,"sku":null,"price":500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0943\/8711\/0212\/files\/73202354.jpg?v=1777480047","url":"https:\/\/foldthecornerbooks.co.uk\/products\/the-spoilt-city","provider":"Fold the Corner Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}