A Time of Gifts: On Foot to Constantinople: From the Hook of Holland to the Middle Danube

At the age of eighteen, Patrick Leigh Fermor set off from the heart of London on an epic journey - to walk to Constantinople. <i>A Time of Gifts</i> is the rich account of his adventures as far as Hungary, after which <i>Between the Woods and the Water</i> continues the story to the Iron Gates that divide the Carpathian and Balkan mountains. Acclaimed for its sweep and intelligence, Leigh Fermor's book explores a remarkable moment in time. Hitler has just come to power but war is still ahead, as he walks through a Europe soon to be forever changed - through the Lowlands to Mitteleuropa, to Teutonic and Slav heartlands, through the baroque remains of the Holy Roman Empire; up the Rhine, and down to the Danube.<br> <br> At once a memoir of coming-of-age, an account of a journey, and a dazzling exposition of the English language, <i>A Time of Gifts</i> is also a portrait of a continent already showing ominous signs of the holocaust to come.