A Time of Gifts: On Foot to Constantinople: From the Hook of Holland to the Middle Danube

This book was the beginning of my love of anything Fermor. What a man. This is the first book of a trilogy and you must stick with it and you’ll be rewarded. I also suggest Abduction of a General which takes place during WWII. Fascinating.

This book is an extreme rarity. It is one that I cannot imagine ANYONE NOT enjoying. Strapping young precocious Fermor, bounced out of school and knocking about London with some chums awaiting, in Fermor's case, with many misgivings, the military rigours of Sandyhurst, decides to chuck it all and go gadding about Europe during the interwar years toward Constantinople at the age of eighteen (He turns nineteen about halfway through.). The result, culled from memories and diaries that survived, and penned decades later, is a bouncing picaresque jaunt through the heartland of Europe, all seen (save for the occasional aside) through the coruscating eyes of youth, is one I simply can't imagine anyone wanting to miss, especially given that this is a world now lost to us almost completely. Interlarded herein are disquisitions on literature, architecture, and history, history, history (a witches' brew of real and apocryphal). Add to this delightfully unguided rather than misguided quest a cast of characters ranging from the homeless seeking shelter to the aristocrat in his schloss whom the author chances upon the way and you have a simply irresistible and sui-generis narrative. You have this book which, regardless of how many grey hairs age has snowed upon your head, will make you feel young and in love with the world again.----5 lofty, swirling stars.

Sometimes one stumbles across a book almost by accident, and finds something truly delightful. This book was one of those experiences. The story is interesting, but the true genius of this book is in the descriptions of the people he meets along the way. The young girls who sneak him into a party, the aging aristocrats who take him in and look after him, the customers in the German beer hall, and many others. When the book is done, you will feel as if you had met these people in real life, and you will want to go back and read about them again. One of the best books I have read this year.

You are certainly off the beaten path if you are reading this review. But trust me, you're in a good spot. It was an unintended and yet happy serendipity that I bought Fermor's "A Time of Gifts" at a used book shop at the far end of Crete, in Paleohora. It wasn't until later that I appreciated the coincidence. I thought my prep school education and university BA in ancient history and German grounded me pretty well in things European. After reading Fermor, I realize I "don't know jack". This is a great book. The writing is fine, the content superb. It is wonderful for all the adventures and carefree wanderings. Yet this story is poignant: not only for the glimpses of what is to come in WWII, but also because Fermor passes through a world that is gone forever. His journey would be impossible today. Read it and keep it. Happily, I came across the second book, "Between the Woods and the Water" in another used bookstore, the Green Apple in San Francisco.

This book should be in any traveller's library. Wonderful writing and a joy to read again and again. Why are the books descibing this epic journey out of print? It's a crime.

Patrick Leigh Fermor charts a young Englishman's trek from the Hook of Holland to Constantinople giving a sensitively detailed and evocative description of Europe before the destruction of the Second World War. Travelling though Germany, he truds throught the heavy Christmas snow and is greeted by people who are both immersed in violent nationalism and incredibly hospitable: the work provides an important contribution to understanding how otherwise good people could be suceptible to Nazism. An excellent read: delicate in its imagery, probing and compassionate in its examination of the kindness of strangers.