Guy and Harriet Pringle, a young British couple, leave Athens in April 1941 to escape the German invasion. They arrive in Egypt as Rommel's forces slowly but steadily cross the Sahara and approach Cairo. The Pringles find themselves once again facing war, while at the same time dealing with their own personal battles in their perpetually complicated marriage. On the streets, the people face the prospect of a new conqueror, and European refugees and wealthy Anglo-Egyptians prepare to leave the city. But in the evenings, all the well-known and important residents of the city flock to the luxurious hotels and famous cabarets for one last dance before the invasion. And amidst all this, Simon Boulderstone appears, a young officer who will witness the tragedy and tension of life on the front, and in whom urban and wartime life converge.

Manning, with the same sharp eye that earned her Balkan Trilogy its devoted readers, delivers the chronicle of an entire era, where the personal and the collective, chaos and calm, war and peace intertwine.

The novels included are:

• The Danger Tree
• Battle Lost and Won
• The Sum of Things