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Titles in This Set
A Time of Gifts
Between the Woods and the Water
The Broken Road
Details
Condition: Brand New
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9789124015312
Publisher: John Murray
Age Range: Adult / General Readers
Overview
This paperback boxed set gathers Patrick Leigh Fermor's celebrated trilogy: A Time of Gifts, Between the Woods and the Water, and The Broken Road. Together they trace his epic 1933 walk from the Hook of Holland to Constantinople, capturing a vanished pre-war Europe in prose of extraordinary richness. A brand new set for readers and gift buyers who love classic travel writing and mid-century European history told by one of its finest witnesses.
About the Books
At eighteen, Patrick Leigh Fermor set off on foot across a continent teetering on the edge of catastrophe, and the three books here are the result: a young man's diary transformed decades later into some of the most admired travel writing in English. A Time of Gifts opens the journey in Holland and carries Fermor through Germany, Austria and into Hungary, alive with monasteries, rivers, and the gathering unease of the 1930s. Between the Woods and the Water continues from the Danube bridge where the first volume ends, following Fermor across the Hungarian Plain and into Transylvania, blending adventure with sharp historical and cultural observation. The Broken Road completes the arc toward Constantinople; though its publication history was complicated, appearing posthumously, it closes the trilogy with the same blend of youthful immediacy and later reflective wisdom. Read together, the volumes form a singular literary achievement: part travelogue, part memoir, part elegy for a Europe soon swept away by war. Fermor's prose is dense, allusive, and famously beautiful, rewarding readers who enjoy language as much as landscape. This collection suits anyone building a classic travel-writing shelf, students of European history, and gift buyers seeking a lasting present for a well-read traveller.
- Complete trilogy in one paperback set
- Brand new, ready to read or gift
- Some of the finest travel writing of the twentieth century
- Rich historical detail on pre-war Europe
- A lasting gift for travellers and historians
- Compact format, easy to read or pack
About the Author
Sir Patrick Michael Leigh Fermor, DSO, OBE (1915–2011), was a British writer, scholar and soldier widely regarded as one of the greatest travel writers of the twentieth century. He played a celebrated role in the Cretan resistance during the Second World War, an exploit that later inspired comparisons to a blend of adventurer and scholar. His restless curiosity and gift for lyrical description shaped a body of work of which this trilogy is the enduring centrepiece.
Why You'll Love This Trilogy
For anyone drawn to classic travel literature, this set delivers an unforgettable journey through a lost Europe, told in prose that is by turns thrilling, learned, and deeply moving — a genuine collector's treasure and a rewarding read from cover to cover.
Please Note: Cover artwork may vary slightly from the image shown; this is the UK edition with UK ISBN as listed.
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