'Fantastically tart and readable' Sarah Waters'An important 20th-century writer who paints a complex relationship between gender and power with wit and sensitivity' Lauren Elkin'These books are clearly among the very best fiction about the Second World War' The Sunday Times'One of the most gifted English writers of her generation' New York TimesAs Rommel advances in wartorn Egypt, the lives of the civilian population come under threat. One such couple are Guy and Harriet Pringle, who have escaped the war in Europe only to find the conflict once more on their doorstep, providing a volatile backdrop to their own personal battles.The civilian world meets the military through the figure of Simon Boulderstone, a young army officer who will witness the tragedy and tension of war on the frontier at first hand.An outstanding author of wartime fiction, Olivia Manning brilliantly evokes here the world of Egypt and the Levant - Syria, Lebanon and Palestine - with perception and subtlety, humour and humanity