This beloved account about an intrepid young Englishman on the first leg of his walk from London to Constantinople is simply one of the best works of travel literature ever written. At the age of eighteen Patrick Leigh Fermor set off from the heart of London on an epic journeyto walk to Constantinople. A Time of Gifts is the rich account of his adventures as far as Hungary after which Between the Woods and the Water continues the story to the Iron Gates that divide the Carpathian and Balkan mountains. Acclaimed for its sweep and intelligence Leigh Fermors 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 changedthrough 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. At once a memoir of comingofage an account of a journey and a dazzling exposition of the English language A Time of Gifts is also a portrait of a continent already showing ominous signs of the holocaust to come. show more