Words of Mercury [Paperback]

'There is a pleasure to be had on every page. Here is a writer who can find something fascinating in the dullest characters and the most drab towns. He is a master stylist, too, revelling in the possibilities of language, striving always to be exact. Few travel writers can create atmosphere quite as thickly, but then few have such extraordinary anecdotes to tell...it [the anthology] serves as a reminder that Leigh Fermor is one of the greatest travel writers of all time' (Anthony Sattin, Sunday Times )

'The finest travel writer of his generation' Colin Thubron

'The greatest of living travel writers' Jan Morris

'Patrick Leigh Fermor is an exquisite among travel writers' (Sunday Telegraph )

'Paddy Leigh Fermor - war hero, linguist, adventurer - is at heart a great storyteller ... he draws the reader, like his huge acquaintance, into instant intimacy. His achievement is to be who he is - even more than what he has done. This collection beautifully illustrates both.' (Max Hastings, SUNDAY TELEGRAPH )

'He makes exotic and entertaining friends wherever he goes, has read everything, been everywhere and writes like a dream' (The Times )

'He makes exotic and entertaining friends wherever he goes, has read everything, been everywhere and writes like a dream'

'He makes exotic and entertaining friends wherever he goes, has read everything, been everywhere and writes like a dream' --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

'Wonderful collection of extracts from a lifetime's writings' --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

[Leigh Fermor's] 'extraordinary character and combination of intelligence and compassion' --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

'A beguiling combination of wisdom and wildness, maturity and freshness' --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

'Vivid recollections of a way of life which vanished with that war [Second World War]' --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

'His gift is that he sees everything' --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

'That Leigh Fermor writes beautifully can be taken for granted.' --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

'His writing seeks to shine a fierce light on the places and peoples he visits' --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Patrick Leigh Fermor was only 18 when he set off to walk from the Hook of Holland to Constantinople, described many years later in A Time of Gifts and Between the Woods and the Water. It was during these early wanderings that he started to pick up languages, and where he developed his extraordinary sense of the continuity of history: a quality that deepens the colours of every place he writes about, from the peaks of the Pyrenees to the cell of a Trappist monastery.

His experiences in wartime Crete sealed the deep affection he had already developed for Greece, a country whose character and customs he celebrates in two books, Mani and Roumeli, and where he has lived for over forty years.

Whether he is drawing portraits in Vienna or sketching Byron's slippers in Missolonghi, the Leigh Fermor touch is unmistakable. Its infectious enthusiasm is driven by an insatiable curiosity and an omnivorous mind - all inspired by a passion for words and language that makes him one of the greatest prose writers of his generation.

This is a long awaited book from Leigh Fermor, the first for twelve years. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Patrick Leigh Fermor lives in Greece in a house he designed and built.