characterisation. Her plots are often described as journeys, odysseys and quests in both literal and metaphorical senses. Manning's talent for "exquisite evocations of place", including physical, cultural and historical aspects have been widely admired, and the critic Walter Allen complimented her "painter's eye for the visible world". Fortunes of War Manning's best known works, the six books comprising Fortunes of War, have been described as "the most underrated novels of the twentieth century" and the author as "among the greatest practitioners of 20th-century roman-fleuve". Written during the Cold War more than sixteen years after the period described, The Balkan Trilogy, set in Romania and Greece, is considered one of the most important literary treatments of the region in wartime, while criticised for the Cold War era images of Balkanism, and for Manning's inability to "conceal her antipathy towards all things Romanian". The Levant Trilogy, set in the Middle East, is praised for its detailed description of Simon Boulderstone's desert war experience and the juxtaposition of the Pringles and their marriage with important world events. Excerpts from the novels have been reprinted in collections of women's war writing. Theodore Steinberg argues for the Fortunes of War to be seen as an epic novel, noting its broad scope and the large cast of interesting characters set at a pivotal point of history. As with other epic novels, the books examine intertwined personal and national themes. There are frequent references to the Fall of Troy, including Guy Pringle's production of Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida in which British expatriates play themselves while Romania and Europe mirror the doomed Troy. In Steinberg's perspective, the books also challenge the typically male genre conventions of the epic novel by viewing the war principally through the eyes of a female character "who frequently contrasts her perceptions with those of the men who surround her". In contrast, Adam Piette views the novel sequence as a failed epic, the product of a Cold War desire to repress change as illustrated by "Harriet's self-pityingly dogged focus on their marriage" without dealing with the radicalism of the war, and fate of its victims as represented by Guy and his political engagement. Other works Manning's other works have largely been described as precursors to the two trilogies. Her pre-war novel, The Wind Changes (1937), set in Ireland, anticipates the future works in its "subtle exploration of relationships against a backdrop of war". Her