The Levant Trilogy
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The Levant Trilogy
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Narrated by:
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Lucy Tregear
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By:
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Olivia Manning
About this listen
'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 Times
As 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©1980 Olivia Manning (P)2025 Orion Publishing Group Limited
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What listeners say about The Levant Trilogy
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Robert B.
- 01-03-25
A brilliant series of novels.
Surely one of the greatest series of novels about WW2, especially from a woman’s perspective.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- lost cause
- 16-04-25
Well written, marred by unrelenting negativity and naiveté
It is a passible snapshot of the cold, hard, boredom and reality of war but fails to reach great literature because of the unrelieved negativity. It certainly catches the atmosphere among heavy drinking British expatriates, accurately depicting their cynicism, cruelty and arrogance. But there is no lightness, no glimmer of joy or compassion. There is passing reference to close friendships in a nostalgic and almost sentimental way, but all of these, it seems, are doomed. The book is well written, but there is no sense of the human spirit that is conveyed by great writers, such as for example, John Steinbeck, even when senseless cruelty and misery are described and recognized. Egyptians are very much framed as “Other” in a condescending, colonial imperialist tone that caricatures Egyptians. This is in great contrast to the extraordinarily detailed descriptions of the European characters in the book. Harriet seems naively blind to Guy’s willful, stubborn selfishness. This could have been a great book if it were more balanced, and not so joyless.
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