A Time of Gifts

Fülszöveg

%Ake a tramp, a pilgrim, or a wandering scholar', ail
eighteen-year-old hoy set out, one wet December day in
1933, to walk to Constantinople. This hook covers his
journey as far as Hungary.
In that year, when Hitler came to power, adventure
beckoned and youth was golden for Patrick Leigh
Fermor, as he tramped up the Rhine and down the
Danube towards the mysterious beginnings of the East,
sleeping now in harps, now in fairy-tale castles, losing his
possessions here, showered with gifts there. But there was
more to discover on his picaresque wanderings than the
freedom and camaraderie of the road: the languages,
arts, landscapes, religions, histories and, above all, the
people of a dozen civilizations unfolded before his hungry
young mind, sharply outlined before the gathering storm.
'More than just a Super-travel-book____it is a reminder
that the English language is still a superb instrument in
the hands of a writer who has a virtuoso skill with words, a
robust... Tovább

Fülszöveg

%Ake a tramp, a pilgrim, or a wandering scholar', ail
eighteen-year-old hoy set out, one wet December day in
1933, to walk to Constantinople. This hook covers his
journey as far as Hungary.
In that year, when Hitler came to power, adventure
beckoned and youth was golden for Patrick Leigh
Fermor, as he tramped up the Rhine and down the
Danube towards the mysterious beginnings of the East,
sleeping now in harps, now in fairy-tale castles, losing his
possessions here, showered with gifts there. But there was
more to discover on his picaresque wanderings than the
freedom and camaraderie of the road: the languages,
arts, landscapes, religions, histories and, above all, the
people of a dozen civilizations unfolded before his hungry
young mind, sharply outlined before the gathering storm.
'More than just a Super-travel-book____it is a reminder
that the English language is still a superb instrument in
the hands of a writer who has a virtuoso skill with words, a
robust aesthetic passion, an indomitable curiosity about
people and places, and a rapturous historical
imagination' — Philip Toynbee in the Observer
T know of 110 other account of pre-war Europe which
conveys so much so powerfully' — Peter Levi
W inner of the 1978 W.H. Smith Literary Award
Between the Woods and the Water9 the sequel to this book,
is also published by Penguin.
Cover illustration by John Craxton Vissza