Biography

Olivia Manning was born on March 2, 1911 in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England, UK. She was a writer, known for Fortunes of War (1987), Take It or Leave It (1964) and Read All About It (1974). She was married to Reggie Smith. She died on July 23, 1980 in Ryde, Isle of Wight, England, UK.

Her two trilogies, The Balkan Trilogy and The Levant Trilogy, were based upon her personal experiences.

Her husband, Reggie Smith, was a member of the British Council.

It is now generally agreed that she was actually born in 1908, although she certainly gave 1911 as her birth-date on some occasions, and even occasionally claimed to have been born in both 1915 and 1917.