Autumn, 1939. Newly-weds Guy and Harriet Pringle step aboard the train to Bucharest. Guy’s lecturing job awaits, alongside friends and the ever-ardent Sophie – but for Harriet, alone and naive, it’s a strange new life.

As Guy’s world collides with that of his new bride, Harriet realises how little she knows the man she has married. Manning’s masterpiece, alive with exhilarating characters, is a haunting evocation of young love and the uncertainty of war.