“I've just finished a series of Olivia Manning novels. She's best known for two trilogies: Balkan Trilogy and Levant Trilogy. The six novels are continuous and contain the same set of characters. They are based on Manning's experiences in Eastern Europe and Egypt during the Second World War. Each novel is a wonderful picture of the peculiar British expatriate culture and what was happening during the war. She's one of those brilliant women who write very well about domestic relationships. All the books are slim, and it's easy to gallop through them.”
![“Once over there [Balkans], I felt extremely patriotic. Here are these people, from 18-year-olds to military veterans, enduring real duress for the cause of peace. I don't ever want to play for a regular audience again, only military folks who are starving for music.” quote by Sheryl Crow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/871/sheryl-crow-2654_audience_once-over-there-balkans-i-felt-extremely_267789.jpg)
![“In terms intellectually, [what] shaped my life was the whole Munich thing [the Munich Agreement] that I knew about all my life, in terms of how large powers make decisions that affect small countries, and the unintended consequences of that. The other part is I knew about the Holocaust. l just…” quote by Madeleine Albright](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/288/madeleine-albright-1360_agreement_in-terms-intellectually-what-shaped-my-l_416884.jpg)
