And his ingenuity, going from door to door in Vienna (a process rippled with humour), to sketch the inhabitants and thereby pay for his supper. You’ll marvel at the hospitality he encounters: the coffee-house owners who give him a bed for the night above their cafe in Linz, the family of noble descent who replace his lost rucksack with things found in their attic, the two “pretty” girls who conspiratorially let him sleep on their sofa in Stuttgart. Then, he becomes relatable again, picnicking on a hunk of bread, a piece of cheese, an onion, in a darkly cavernous church or getting (properly) drunk on beer and schnapps “things grew quickly darker and more fluid”. Sometimes it’s hard work, too dense, too scholarly. When he arrives at Melk Abbey, you’re right there beside him, as he becomes “ un peu gris” (a bit tipsy) on the baroque grandeur of a trompe l’oeil ceiling. Patrick Leigh Fermor (1915-2011) was an intrepid traveler, a heroic soldier, and a writer with a unique prose style. Take Schloss Schönbühel, on the banks of the Danube, north of Melk, “gleaming as though it were carved ivory. A Time of Gifts - (New York Review Books Classics) by Patrick Leigh Fermor (Paperback) You May Also Like Leasing Media & Partnerships Hours of Operation. Under The Sun: The Letters of Bruce Chatwin, Bruce Chatwin, Elizabeth Chatwin, Nicholas Shakespeare, Vintage. The Broken Road, Patrick Leigh Fermor Guardian Review 6 September 2013.

He manages to make architecture, often hard to conjure, come to life. A Time of Gifts, Patrick Leigh Fermor, John Murray, 1977. And Fermor’s description of colours is equally memorable – “scumbled gold” and “the shrill sulphur hue Mantegna loved” I turned down those pages to enjoy them again later. “Palely loitering Cranach” is a perfect summation of the German Renaissance painter. It’s wide-ranging, packed with literary allusions (Shakespeare, Skelton, PG Wodehouse) and artistic observations. The history he shares is not just taken from his experiences on the road.

Leigh fermor a time of gifts