Description

The acclaimed travel writer’s youthful journey – as an 18-year-old – across 1930s Europe by foot began in A Time of Gifts, which covered the author’s exacting journey from the Lowlands as far as Hungary.

Picking up from the very spot on a bridge across the Danube where his readers last saw him, we travel on with him across the great Hungarian Plain on horseback, and over the Romanian border to Transylvania.

The trip was an exploration of a continent which was already showing signs of the holocaust which was to come. Although frequently praised for his lyrical writing, Fermor’s account also provides a coherent understanding of the dramatic events then unfolding in Middle Europe. But the delight remains in travelling with him in his picaresque journey past remote castles, mountain villages, monasteries and towering ranges.

The concluding part of the trilogy was published in September 2013 as The Broken Road.

Publisher Review

'For a spirited introduction [to the Balkans] try Patrick Leigh Fermor's account of a 1930s walk from Hungary to Romania and Bulgaria...rich in local history and a formative book in the rise of modern travel writing' - David Mattin * The Times * John Murray is doing the decent thing and reissuing all of Leigh Fermor's main books ... But what else would you expect from a publisher whose commitment to geography is such that for more than two centuries it has widened our understanding of the world? * Geographical Magazine * Bringing the landscape alive as no other writer can, he uses his profound and eclectic understanding of cultures and peoples ... to paint vivid pictures - nobody has illuminated the geography of Europe better * Geographical Magazine * Rightly considered to be among the most beautiful travel books in the language * Independent * I have never enjoyed a travel book more and I would doubt if I will ever enjoy one so much again * Robin Lane Fox * The most enjoyable living writer to be published this year * Peter Levi, The Spectator * He is exploring the very furthest boundaries of the genre. * Jan Morris, The Times * As full of zest, joy and delight as its predecessor * Country Life * 'The finest travelling companion we could ever have... His head is stocked with cultural lore and poetic fancy to make every league an adventure.' Christopher Hudson * Evening Standard * Between the Woods and the Water is a book so good your resent finishing it. * Sunday Times *