A Time to Keep Silence

The English language is still a superb instrument in the hands of a writer who has a virtuoso skill with words, a robust aesthetic passion, an indomitable curiosity and a rapturous historical imagination * Observer *
The genius of Patrick Leigh Fermor is a many splendoured thing. Soldier, traveller, writer, Phihellene ... he has already dazzled and delighted ... It is some time since more truth and beauty were distilled into a hundred pages * Stewart Perowne *
A brilliant book * Sunday Times *
Delightful ... His book is not only an admirable piece of travel writing; it is also a brilliant piece of human exploration * New Statesman *
Introspection, history, reportage have their balanced places in a well-written book ... measured and lucent * Sunday Times *
Patrick Leigh Fermor is a stylish, superb master of words, which he savours like the choicest vintage * The Times *
What a delight it is to read a book so beautifully and sensitively written * Observer *
A most successful attempt to portray the reactions of the man of the world (in the literal sense) when confronted with the monastic life * Daily Telegraph *
Delightful, lucidly written work of introspection that evokes the hardship and the rewards of the solitary life, as well as its beauty * The Glasgow Herald *
John Murray is doing the decent thing and reissuing all of Leigh Fermor's main books ... But what else would you expect from a publisher whose commitment to geography is such that for more than two centuries it has widened our understanding of the world? * Geographical Magazine *
A pleasure and an instruction to read * Irish Times *
Bringing the landscape alive as no other writer can, he uses his profound and eclectic understanding of cultures and peoples ... to paint vivid pictures - nobody has illuminated the geography of Europe better * Geographical Magazine *