A Time of Gifts On Foot to Constantinople: From the Hook of Holland to the Middle Danube by Patrick Leigh Fermor is an amazing memoir of a young man's trek across Europe in 1933-34. Fermor's love for life and his exuberant enjoyment of all he experiences makes for a wonderful tale of adventure. He's a young man of 18 who has been released from the confines of formal education (he could never settle down enough to follow the rules) and from training for army life. Now he's free and he has gotten it into his head he's going to be a poet. He plans to walk across Europe as fodder for his muse. His good-natured mother lets him do it. He begins in Holland, proceeds through Belgium and then into Germany and Austria, some Czechoslovakia before entering Hungary. Hitler has just come to power and all of Europe and, indeed, the world, is on the cusp of devastating war and formerly unknown levels of evil. But Fermor is having the time of his life. He meets all kinds of people on the way, many hospitable and friendly. He explores all kinds of art and history and architecture.
Fermor has an amazing talent for the English language. His descriptive powers are marvelous. We get to experience things as a 19 year old, but also has an older man looking back 40 years to his youth and also looking back on his time during World War II.
The book is a delight to read. I am so happy I've discovered Fermor and plan to read the next book which continues his travels.
Five stars!!! Two thumbs up! For more book reviews go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.
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