Books by Patrick Leigh Fermor
“A Time of Gifts is like a Beaujolais Nouveau—very youthful and fresh. Leigh Fermor was from an upper-middle-class background. He had letters of introduction to some of the finest aristocratic houses in Europe. His is an interesting take on Europe on the eve of the disruption of World War Two. Reading these books now is like reading history—this is how Europe was pre-1939.” Read more...
Gail Simmons, Travel Writer
The Violins of St Jacques
by Patrick Leigh Fermor
It’s about the eruption of Mt Pelée in 1902 on Martinique. It sent this thing, a glowing cloud, a nuée ardente, ash and lava and hot air rolling down the hillside. It completely devastated the town of St-Pierre and there was one survivor out of a population of 30,000.
Interviews where books by Patrick Leigh Fermor were recommended
The best books on Volcanoes, recommended by Simon Winchester
The respected author and veteran journalist gives illuminating interview on volcanic eruptions. Discusses wonderful literary works from authors including Jules Vernes, Edward Lytton and Paddy Leigh Fermor
The Best Hiking Memoirs, recommended by Gail Simmons
Accounts of journeys on foot capture the imagination; partly this is a function of the satisfaction of following a linear journey from start to finish, and partly it is a quality inherent to walking itself—a freeing of the mind. Gail Simmons, who follows an old English pilgrimage route in her book Between the Chalk and the Sea, selects five hiking memoirs that celebrate the liberation that comes from putting one foot after another.
The Best Travel Writing, recommended by Colin Thubron
The much-travelled author Colin Thubron reflects on more than 40 years of writing about other cultures, and shares his own favourite travel reading with us
