A Time of Gifts

Much like As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning, this is the story of someone who makes up their mind to travel from point A to point B and is then witness to Events. Coincidentally, both books capture the same period, set against the backdrop of the growth of fascism in Europe in the 1930's. While Laurie Lee's novel presents a more working-man view of events, Patrick Leigh Fermor starts out from a more comfortable background, combining village life with hobnobbing with the “great and the good” of European society.

From other reviews, I see that others have found the prose a little long-winded at times. For those who might be put off by this, I can strongly recommend the audiobook, which easily carried me over the slower sections.

Having read completed the trilogy, the combined effect is one of having completed a great journey, with the experience of a detailed snapshot of Europe at a specific moment in time.

Perhaps my expectations were too high, based on the 4/5 star reviews I read through before starting this book. It was good - really good in places, but was interspersed with sidelines that were frankly a bit dry. Written with the power of hindsight (ie travelled in 1933, written in 1977) it is obviously not the work of the 18 year old travelling, it is the work of the elder, more worldly and experienced man.
Having said that, if the second book was to become available to me I would have little hesitation in working through that too.
Probably 3.5 for me.