Patrick Leigh Fermor (1915-2011) was an intrepid traveler, a
heroic soldier, and a writer with a unique prose style. After his
stormy schooldays, followed by the walk across Europe to
Constantinople that begins in A Time of Gifts (1977) and continues
through Between the Woods and the Water (1986), he lived and
traveled in the Balkans and the Greek Archipelago. His books Mani
(1958) and Roumeli (1966) attest to his deep interest in languages
and remote places. In the Second World War he joined the Irish
Guards, became a liaison officer in Albania, and fought in Greece
and Crete. He was awarded the DSO and OBE. He lived partly in
Greece—in the house he designed with his wife, Joan, in an olive
grove in the Mani—and partly in Worcestershire. He was knighted in
2004 for his services to literature and to British–Greek
relations.
Karen Armstrong, a historian of religion, spent seven years
in a Roman Catholic religious order; she has written about this
experience in Through the Narrow Gate and The Spiral Staircase. She
is also the author of many books, including A History of God, The
Great Transformation, and, most recently, The Bible: A Biography.
"Delightful…His book is not only an admirable piece of travel
writing; it is also a brilliant piece of human exploration." — The
New Statesman
"Prose lapidary and evocative enough to please even the hardiest
skeptic." — The Washington Post
"His shortest book (and to my mind his best)…its hammered terseness
is…a good match for the sobriety of the subject." — Anthony Lane,
The New Yorker
"Fermor writes logbooks of discovery, keenly meandering through
architecture, music, art, history and the minutiae of everyday
life…[His] erudition and courage are matched by his discerning
compassion, which shapes the probing character sketches that
populate his books, including A Time to Keep Silence." — Los
Angeles Times
"A most successful attempt to portray the reactions of the man of
the world (in the literal sense) when confronted with the monastic
life." — Daily Telegraph (UK)
Praise for Patrick Leigh Fermor:
"One of the greatest travel writers of all time”–The Sunday
Times
“A unique mixture of hero, historian, traveler and writer; the last
and the greatest of a generation whose like we won't see
again.”–Geographical
“The finest traveling companion we could ever have . . . His head
is stocked with enough cultural lore and poetic fancy to make every
league an adventure.” –Evening Standard
If all Europe were laid waste tomorrow, one might do worse than
attempt to recreate it, or at least to preserve some sense of
historical splendor and variety, by immersing oneself in the travel
books of Patrick Leigh Fermor.”—Ben Downing, The Paris Review
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