A Time of Gifts cover art

A Time of Gifts

On Foot to Constantinople: from the Hook of Holland to the Middle Danube

 Preview

Get 30 days of Standard free

£5.99/mo after trial. Cancel monthly.
Try for £0.00
More purchase options

A Time of Gifts

By: Patrick Leigh Fermor
Narrated by: Crispin Redman
Try for £0.00

£5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for £17.94

Buy Now for £17.94

In 1933, at the age of 18, Patrick Leigh Fermor set out on an extraordinary journey by foot - from the Hook of Holland to Constantinople. A Time of Gifts is the first volume in a trilogy recounting the trip, and takes the reader with him as far as Hungary.

It is a book of compelling glimpses - not only of the events which were curdling Europe at that time, but also of its resplendent domes and monasteries, its great rivers, the sun on the Bavarian snow, the storks and frogs, the hospitable burgomasters who welcomed him, and that world's grandeurs and courtesies. His powers of recollection have astonishing sweep and verve, and the scope is majestic.

(P)2014 Hodder & Stoughton©1977 The Estate of Patrick Leigh Fermor Adventure Travel Adventure Middle Ages
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_c

Critic reviews

[Fermor's] gloriously ornate account of that epic journey is a classic of what we might call the 'literature of the leg'
All stars
Most relevant
A wonderful and an utterly unusual travelogue. A journey undertaken by a teenager, but written up decades later by the author with the benefit of hindsight: it has a unique combination of youthful exuberance and wanderlust, with the pathos of knowing that so much of the continent he describes was to be turned upside down by the war.

I think the whole trilogy is magical: there's really nothing like his idiosyncratic combination of interests - architecture, the romance of language and poetry, and a keen eye for cultural history.

I see quite a few people didn't enjoy the narration: I thought it was terrific and entirely suitable for the material. The other two books in the trilogy are great too, even though the third is unfinished and published posthumously.

One of a kind (well, apart from the other two)

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
In 'A Time Of Gifts' PLF, as in the other two books of this trilogy, manages to combine the youthful energy and enthusiasm of his younger self, with the erudition and vast arstistic, geographic and historical knowlege of his elder self. The result of this heady mix is PLF's own brand of hefty and vivid descriptions of his exciting, and didactic, secular pilgrimage across Europe at the age of 18.

PLF is a treasure trove of brilliance

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I love this book but found the audio version seriously spoilt by the narrator. For a book largely set in German-speaking countries, & with many snippets of German, amongst other languages in the text, someone able to pronounce the language properly would have been a better choice; some of Crispin Redman's attempts are virtually unintelligible. Also his atrocious 'Allo-'Allo style cod-German accent when rendering quotes from German-speaking protagonists is rather wearing after a while.

Geat story spoilt by narrator

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I first read the first two volumes shortly after they were published and I thought it would be enjoyable to listen to these again before listening to The Broken Road. I wish I had just bought the third volume and read it.
This is a book, not a play. I am possibly in a minority but in an audiobook I want the book to be read, not acted. Crispin Redman reads as if this were a soliloquy, giving almost every word an exaggerated emphasis. This, and the high-speed delivery of someone who seems over exited and wants to blurt out the story in the shortest time, is very quickly tiring to me.
I would prefer a measured, relaxed reading. The words and one's imagination are all that is required.

Spoilt by inappropriate narration.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This book, whose author I did not know, was recommended to me, a lover of travels, walking and Istanbul. It was a revelation in the beauty in which it is written.. It drew me in to every step walked, while hearing the sounds around the traveller, the people met and the landscaped described. Just a beautiful tale well told and very well read. Thank you.

New to the author

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews