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A Time to Keep Silence

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( 1,973 ratings, 289 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
In A Time to Keep Silence, celebrated travel writer Patrick Leigh Fermor explores the contemplative lives of monks across various monastic settings, from the French Abbey of St Wandrille to Turkey's remote Cappadocia rock monasteries. His vivid account reveals the profound tranquillity and timeless beauty of these spiritual refuges, capturing the peaceful solitude and enchantment experienced during his occasional retreats.
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Format: Paperback / softback
$3199
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

This reflective and elegantly written work will appeal to readers interested in religion, spirituality, travel memoirs, and contemplative lifestyles, as well as those who appreciate lyrical prose and thoughtful human insight.

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A wonderful insight into the calm and contemplative world of the monastery from a premier travel writer.

A wonderful insight into the calm and contemplative world of the monastery from a premier travel writer.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

From the French Abbey of St Wandrille to the abandoned and awesome Rock Monasteries of Cappadocia in Turkey, the celebrated travel writer Patrick Leigh Fermor studies the rigorous contemplative lives of the monks and the timeless beauty of their monastic surroundings.

In his occasional retreats, the peaceful solitude and the calm enchantment of the monasteries was passed on as a kind of supernatural windfall which A Time to Keep Silence so effortlessly records.

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Critics have praised Fermor's book for its superb command of the English language, blending travel writing with deep human exploration. The Observer lauded his "virtuoso skill with words," while the Sunday Times described it as a "brilliant book" with balanced introspection and reportage. The New Statesman called it "delightful," highlighting its admirable and sensitive prose, and the Daily Telegraph appreciated its clear portrayal of a man of the world's encounter with monastic life.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780719555275

Publisher: John Murray Press

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 15 March 2004

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: John Murray Publishers Ltd

Illustration: none

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 8.0mm

Width: 138.0mm

Height: 198.0mm

Weight: 77g

Pages: 96

About the Author

Patrick Leigh Fermor is of English and Irish descent. After his stormy schooldays, followed by his walk across Europe to Constantinople, he lived and travelled in the Balkans and the Greek archipelago acquiring a deep interest in languages and remote places. He joined the Irish Guards, became a liaison officer in Albania, fought in Greece and Crete where, during the German occupation, he returned three times (once by parachute). Disguised as a shepherd he lived for over two years in the mountains, organising the resistance, and led the party that captured and evacuated the German Commander, General Kreipe. He was awarded the DSO and OBE, was made Honorary Citizen of Heraklion, and later of Kardamyli and Gytheion. He is a Corresponding Member of the Athens Academy. He now lives partly in Greece in the house he designed with his wife Joan in an olive grove in the Mani, and partly in Worcestershire.

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  • A Time of Gifts
    INTRODUCED BY JAN MORRIS In 1933, at the tender age of eighteen, Patrick Leigh Fermor embarked on a remarkable year-long journey on foot from the Hook of Holland to Istanbul. Decades later, he penned A Time of Gifts, a dazzlingly original and evocative narrative of the first part of this epic trek through Europe. This literary masterpiece takes readers on...
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  • A Time of Gifts
    'Nothing short of a masterpiece' JAN MORRIS '[This] gloriously ornate account of that epic journey is a classic' ROBERT MACFARLANE 'Not only is this journey one of physical adventure but of cultural awakening. Architecture, art, genealogy, quirks of history and language are all devoured -- and here passed on -- with a gusto uniquely his' COLIN THUBRON, Sunday Times 'One...
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  • Between the Woods and the Water
    Between the Woods and the Water by Patrick Leigh Fermor is a remarkable continuation of the author’s youthful odyssey through 1930s Europe, a journey he began to document in his celebrated work, A Time of Gifts. This second instalment picks up seamlessly from his pause on a bridge over the Danube. In a vibrant narrative filled with curiosity and wonder,...
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  • Roumeli
    Patrick Leigh Fermor's Mani compellingly revealed a hidden world of Southern Greece and its past. Its northern counterpart takes the reader among Sarakatsan shepherds, the monasteries of Meteora, and the villages of Krakora, among itinerant pedlars and beggars, and even tracks down at Missolonghi a pair of Byron's slippers. Roumeli is not on modern maps: it is the ancient name...
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  • The Broken Road
    The Broken Road by Patrick Leigh Fermor is the third and final volume of his famed trilogy, chronicling an extraordinary journey across Europe. At the tender age of eighteen, Fermor embarked on an epic walk from the Hook of Holland to Constantinople. This final instalment picks up where A Time of Gifts and Between the Woods and the Water left...
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  • Mani
    For the first time in John Murray B-format paperback, this is Patrick Leigh Fermor's spellbinding part-travelogue, part inspired evocation of a barely-written part of Greece's past. Joining him in the Mani, one of Europe's wildest and most isolated regions, cut off from the rest of Greece by the towering Taygettus mountain range and hemmed in by the Aegean and Ionian...
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  • In Tearing Haste
    In spring 1956, Deborah, Duchess of Devonshire—youngest of the six legendary Mitford sisters—invited the writer and war hero Patrick Leigh Fermor to visit Lismore Castle, the Devonshires' house in Ireland. This halcyon visit sparked off a deep friendship and a lifelong exchange of sporadic but highly entertaining letters. There can rarely have been such contrasting styles: Debo, unashamed philistine and...
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