{"product_id":"a-time-to-keep-silence-9781590172445","title":"A Time to Keep Silence","description":"While still a teenager, Patrick Leigh Fermor made his way across Europe, as recounted in his classic memoirs, \u003ci\u003eA Time of Gifts\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eBetween the Woods and the Water\u003c\/i\u003e. During World War II, he fought with local partisans against the Nazi occupiers of Crete. But in \u003ci\u003eA Time to Keep Silence\u003c\/i\u003e, Leigh Fermor writes about a more inward journey, describing his several sojourns in some of Europe's oldest and most venerable monasteries. He stays at the Abbey of St. Wandrille, a great repository of art and learning; at Solesmes, famous for its revival of Gregorian chant; and at the deeply ascetic Trappist monastery of La Grande Trappe, where monks take a vow of silence. Finally, he visits the rock monasteries of Cappadocia, hewn from the stony spires of a moonlike landscape, where he seeks some trace of the life of the earliest Christian anchorites. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eMore than a history or travel journal, however, this beautiful short book is a meditation on the meaning of silence and solitude for modern life. Leigh Fermor writes, \"In the seclusion of a cell--an existence whose quietness is only varied by the silent meals, the solemnity of ritual, and long solitary walks in the woods--the troubled waters of the mind grow still and clear, and much that is hidden away and all that clouds it floats to the surface and can be skimmed away; and after a time one reaches a state of peace that is unthought of in the ordinary world.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePatrick Leigh Fermor\u003c\/b\u003e (1915-2011) was an intrepid traveler, a heroic soldier, and a writer with a unique prose style. After his stormy schooldays, followed by the walk across Europe to Constantinople that begins in \u003ci\u003eA Time of Gifts\u003c\/i\u003e (1977) and continues through \u003ci\u003eBetween the Woods and the Water\u003c\/i\u003e (1986), he lived and traveled in the Balkans and the Greek Archipelago. His books \u003ci\u003eMani\u003c\/i\u003e (1958) and \u003ci\u003eRoumeli\u003c\/i\u003e (1966) attest to his deep interest in languages and remote places. In the Second World War he joined the Irish Guards, became a liaison officer in Albania, and fought in Greece and Crete. He was awarded the DSO and OBE. He lived partly in Greece--in the house he designed with his wife, Joan, in an olive grove in the Mani--and partly in Worcestershire. He was knighted in 2004 for his services to literature and to British-Greek relations. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cb\u003eKaren Armstrong\u003c\/b\u003e, a historian of religion, spent seven years in a Roman Catholic religious order; she has written about this experience in \u003ci\u003eThrough the Narrow Gate\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Spiral Staircase\u003c\/i\u003e. She is also the author of many books, including \u003ci\u003eA History of God\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Great Transformation\u003c\/i\u003e, and, most recently, \u003ci\u003eThe Bible: A Biography.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"New York Review of Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50644573356306,"sku":"9781590172445","price":11.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_46905703-f3b7-4527-92b0-4e88680d7311.jpg?v=1733115951","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/a-time-to-keep-silence-9781590172445","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}