Fortunes of War

War breaks out as newly-married Guy and Harriet Pringle set out on a journey across Europe and into the heart of the Balkans - to Romania where an uneasy neutrality reigns.

The Romanian prime minister has been assassinated by the fascist Iron Guard and Bucharest is rife with rumour and counter-rumour. Guy, gregarious as ever, is at the centre of the city's intellectual life, popular alike with his students and with the ex-patriate community of diplomats, agents, refugees, spies and politicians. Harriet is beginning to wonder when he will find time for her.

To Harriet's intense annoyance, Prince Yakimov has taken up permanent residence in the Pringle flat while they secretly shelter Sasha Drucker who is in hiding from the Iron Guard. France has fallen and Romania is forging an alliance with the Germans.

Unwittingly betrayed by Prince Yakimov, Guy's name has appeared on a Gestapo 'death list'. The Pringle flat has been ransacked and the Jewish refugee, Sasha Drucker , has disappeared. Bucharest is overrun by Germans and it is time for the English to move on. Harriet, alone, waits anxiously for Guy to join her in Athens.

As German troops advanced into Greece and the Allied forces mobilised, Harriet's brief encounter with a young army officer came to an end. As the English community prepared to leave Athens, Prince Yakimov was tragically killed, and Guy and Harriet escaped in the nick of time on a derelict cargo boat.

After fighting his first battle in the Western desert, Simon Boulderstone set out in search of his brother, only to learn that he was killed in action. Guy returned from Alexandria to take charge of the Institute in Cairo. Harriet felt she could play no part in his ambitious plans for re-organisation.

Neglected by Guy and weakened by illness, Harriet decided to return to England. Unknown to Guy, she changed her mind and on a last-minute impulse set off for Damascus instead. Meanwhile in Cairo, news came that the ship Harriet was to have sailed on was torpedoed - with no survivors.