EAN: 9781529369526

A TIME OF GIFTS - PATRICK LEIGH FERMOR TASCHENBUCH

INTRODUCED BY JAN MORRIS '[This] gloriously ornate account of that epic journey is a classic'
ROBERT MACFARLANE 'The feeling of being lost in time and geography with months and years hazily
sparkling ahead is a prospect of inconjecturable magic.' In 1933  aged eighteen  Patrick Leigh
Fermor set out on his 'great trudge'  a year-long journey by foot from the Hook of Holland to
Istanbul. Three decades later he wrote A Time of Gifts  the sparklingly original account of the
first part of this youthful adventure  which took him through the Low Countries  up the Rhine 
through Germany  down the Danube  through Austria and Czechoslovakia  and as far as Hungary.
Alone  carrying only a rucksack and with a small allowance of only a pound a week  Fermor had
planned to sleep rough - to live 'like a tramp  a pilgrim  or a wandering scholar' - but a
chance introduction in Bavaria led to comfortable stays in castles  and provided a glimpse of
the old Europe of princes and peasants. Hailed as a masterpiece  A Time of Gifts is in part a
coming-of-age memoir  but it is also a rich and compelling portrait of a continent that -
despite its resplendent domes and monasteries  its great rivers and grand cities - was soon to
be swept away by war  modernisation and profound social change. 'Not only is this 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 TIMES 'One of the most romantic books of the twentieth century  Patrick Leigh
Fermor's account of a long walk across Europe is also a literary treasure  a rich blend of
action and observation' GUARDIAN

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