A Time of Gifts
On Foot to Constantinople: from the Hook of Holland to the Middle Danube
Published on 15. March 2004
Book
Paperback/Softback
384 pages
978-0-7195-6695-0 (ISBN)
Description
In 1933, at the age of 18, Patrick Leigh Fermor set out on an extraordinary journey by foot - from the Hook of Holland to Constantinople. A Time of Gifts is the first volume in a trilogy recounting the trip, and takes the reader with him as far as Hungary.
It is a book of compelling glimpses - not only of the events which were curdling Europe at that time, but also of its resplendent domes and monasteries, its great rivers, the sun on the Bavarian snow, the storks and frogs, the hospitable burgomasters who welcomed him, and that world's grandeurs and courtesies. His powers of recollection have astonishing sweep and verve, and the scope is majestic.
It is a book of compelling glimpses - not only of the events which were curdling Europe at that time, but also of its resplendent domes and monasteries, its great rivers, the sun on the Bavarian snow, the storks and frogs, the hospitable burgomasters who welcomed him, and that world's grandeurs and courtesies. His powers of recollection have astonishing sweep and verve, and the scope is majestic.
Reviews / Votes
Nothing short of a masterpiece * Jan Morris * [Fermor's] gloriously ornate account of that epic journey is a classic of what we might call the 'literature of the leg' * Robert Macfarlane, Waitrose Weekend * A treasure chest of descriptive writing * Spectator * Not only is the journey one of physical adventure but of cultural awakening. Architecture, art, genealogy, quirks of history and language are all devoured - and here passed on - with a gusto uniquely his * Colin Thubron, Sunday Telegraph * Every page of this book is distinguished by an image, a metaphor, a flash of humour always original and sometimes as incisive as a laser beam. * Vincent Cronin * A tremendous journey ... and he's fabulous company * Manchester Evening News * This is a traveller's tale at its infectious and informative best; vividly remembered and beautifully written * Church Times * John Murray is doing the decent thing and reissuing all of Leigh Fermor's main books ... But what else would you expect from a publisher whose commitment to geography is such that for more than two centuries it has widened our understanding of the world? * Geographical Magazine * Rightly considered to be among the most beautiful travel books in the language * Independent * Bringing the landscape alive as no other writer can, he uses his profound and eclectic understanding of cultures and peoples ... to paint vivid pictures - nobody has illuminated the geography of Europe better * Geographical Magazine *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United Kingdom
Publishing group
John Murray Press
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Illustrations
frontispiece and map
Dimensions
Height: 198 mm
Width: 154 mm
Thickness: 26 mm
Weight
274 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-7195-6695-0 (9780719566950)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
New editions
Book
07/2021
John Murray Publishers Ltd
€16.50
Available immediately
Additional editions
Patrick Leigh Fermor
A Time of Gifts
On Foot to Constantinople: from the Hook of Holland to the Middle Danube
E-Book
10/2010
John Murray Learning
€5.49
Available for download
Previous edition
Patrick Leigh Fermor
A Time of Gifts
Book
05/2002
John Murray Publishers Ltd
€32.39
Article exhausted; check for reprint
Person
In December 1933, at the age of eighteen, Patrick Leigh Fermor (1915-2011) walked across Europe, reaching Constantinople in early 1935. He travelled on into Greece, where in Athens he met Balasha Cantacuzene, with whom he lived - mostly in Rumania - until the outbreak of war. Serving in occupied Crete, he led a successful operation to kidnap a German general, for which he won the DSO. After the war he began writing, and travelled extensively round Greece with Joan Eyres Monsell whom he later married. Towards the end of his life he wrote the first two books about his early trans-European odyssey, A Time of Gifts and Between the Woods and the Water. He planned a third, unfinished at the time of his death in 2011, which has since been edited by Colin Thubron and Artemis Cooper and published as The Broken Road.