{"product_id":"9781399836852","title":"A Time of Gifts: On Foot to Constantinople: from the Hook of Holland to the Middle Danube - Patrick Leigh Fermor (Paperback) 16-07-2026","description":"\u003cp\u003eWITH A FOREWORD BY JAN MORRIS  'A treasure chest' Spectator  'A masterpiece' William Dalrymple, Financial Times  In 1933, aged eighteen, Patrick Leigh Fermor set out on his 'great trudge', a year-long journey by foot from the Hook of Holland to Istanbul. Three decades later he wrote A Time of Gifts, the sparklingly original account of the first part of this youthful adventure. Alone, carrying only a rucksack and a small allowance, he travelled through the Low Countries, up the Rhine, through Germany, down the Danube, through Austria and Czechoslovakia, and as far as Hungary.  Hailed as a masterpiece, A Time of Gifts is in part a coming-of-age memoir, but also a rich and compelling portrait of a continent that - despite its resplendent domes and monasteries, great rivers and grand cities - was soon to be swept away by war, modernisation and profound social change.  'Rightly considered to be among the most beautiful travel books in the language' Independent\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"The Ivybridge Bookshop","offers":[{"title":"Patrick Leigh Fermor \/ Non Fiction - Travel Guides \u0026 Narratives \/ 16-07-2026","offer_id":57176492179836,"sku":"9781399836852","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0535\/2344\/8005\/files\/9781399836852.jpg?v=1784133108","url":"https:\/\/www.ivybridgebookshop.com\/products\/9781399836852","provider":"The Ivybridge Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}