Book 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.
