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Olivia Manning (1908–1980) was a British novelist, poet, writer and reviewer. Her fiction and non-fiction, frequently detailing journeys and personal odysseys, were principally set in England, Ireland, Europe and the Middle East. Her first serious novel, The Wind Changes, was published in 1937. She lived in
Bucharest, Romania, and in Greece, Egypt and Palestine, as
Nazi Germany overran Eastern Europe. Her experiences helped form the six novels making up The Balkan Trilogy and The Levant Trilogy, known collectively as
Fortunes of War. The overall quality of her output was considered uneven by critics, but this series, published between 1960 and 1980, was described by
Anthony Burgess as "the finest fictional record of the war produced by a British writer". Manning returned to London after the war, writing poetry, short stories, novels, non-fiction, reviews, and drama for the
British Broadcasting Corporation. As she had feared, real fame only came after her death, when
an adaptation of Fortunes of War was televised in 1987. (
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All Saints, Margaret Street, is a Grade I listed Anglican church in London. Designed by the architect William Butterfield and built between 1850 and 1859, it has been hailed as Butterfield's masterpiece and a pioneering building of the High Victorian Gothic style that characterized British architecture from around 1850 to 1870. The church is particularly celebrated for its interior decoration, seen here. Every surface is richly patterned or decorated: the floor in diaper-patterned tiles; wall surfaces in geometrical patterned brick, tile, and marble, as well as tiles with painted decoration; large friezes executed in painted tiles; a painted ceiling; and painted and gilded timberwork behind the altar. Photograph: David Iliff |
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