{"product_id":"patrick-leigh-fermor-a-life-in-letters-9781681371566","title":"Patrick Leigh Fermor: A Life in Letters","description":"\u003cb\u003eThe first extensive collection of letters written by war hero and travel writing legend Patrick Leigh Fermor.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eHandsome, spirited, and erudite, Patrick Leigh Fermor was a war hero and one of the greatest travel writers of his generation. He was also a wonderful friend. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe letters in this collection span almost seventy years, the first written ten days before Paddy's twenty-fifth birthday, the last when he was ninety-four, and the correspondents include Deborah Devonshire, Nancy Mitford, Lawrence Durrell, Diana Cooper, and his lifelong companion, Joan Rayner. The letters exhibit many of Fermor's most engaging characteristics: his lust for life, his unending curiosity, his lyrical descriptive powers, his love of language, his exuberance, and his tendency to get into scrapes--particularly when drinking and, quite separately, driving. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eHere are plenty of extraordinary stories: the hunt for Byron's slippers in one of the remotest regions of Greece; an ignominious dismissal from Somerset Maugham's Villa Mauresque; and hiding behind a bush to dub Dirk Bogarde into Greek during the shooting of Ill Met by Moonlight. The letters radiate warmth and gaiety; many are enhanced with witty illustrations and comic verse, while others contain riddles and puns. Every one of them entertains.\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 celebrated writer. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Order and the Order of the British Empire, and was knighted for his services to literature and British- Greek relations. NYRB Classics and New York Review Books publish several of his works of travel writing, including \u003ci\u003eA Time of Gifts\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eBetween the Woods and Water\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Broken Road\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Traveller's Tree\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eA Time to Keep Silence\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eMani: Travels in the Southern Peloponnese\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eRoumeli: Travels in Northern Greece\u003c\/i\u003e, as well as his memoir, \u003ci\u003eAbducting a General\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eAdam Sisman\u003c\/b\u003e is the author of several biographies, most recently of John le Carré. His \u003ci\u003eBoswell's Presumptuous Task\u003c\/i\u003e won the prestigious National Book Critics Circle Award for Biography. He is an Honorary Fellow of the University of St. Andrews.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"New York Review of Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50427956789522,"sku":"9781681371566","price":14.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_1f162d5f-eec0-45f5-8c03-e242e155322c.jpg?v=1729526950","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/patrick-leigh-fermor-a-life-in-letters-9781681371566","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}