A fine novel about a newly-married couple living in Bucharest in a war crazy Europe. Olivia Manning's books concentrate on the British expatriate community outside the charmed circle of the diplomats of the Legation: the rumours, the shortages, the terrors as friends and acquaintances disappear or are killed almost every week. The refugees, the Jews, the professional freebooter who make their home with the Pringles, the young married couple, even as Harriet feels her marriage under strain against the darker strain of war. A difficult read but a very rewarding one.