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A review by halfmanhalfbook
Patrick Leigh Fermor: An Adventure by Artemis Cooper
5.0
Until I heard this book on Radio 4's Book of the Week, their non fiction book slot, I had never heard of Patrick Leigh Fermor.
Cooper has written a comprehensive and sensitive biography about Fermor. He was a very talented writer, most famous for a travel books, and in particular for one on a walk across Europe in-between the wars. He wrote about other countries, and numerous articles. He was a very complex character, troubled in lots of ways, and carefree in others. The people he met either jelled with him straight away or would end up taking a dislike to him fairly soon after meeting him, one individual even tried to stab him.
He bristled against authority, and through contacts managed to get a position at Sandhurst in the guards. Illness meant that he couldn't continue and was sought and signed up for intelligence corp and departed to his beloved Greece. He had what was sometimes known as a good war, and is also well know for the abduction of a German general.
He took many lovers through his life, but he met a lady called Joan Rayner at the very end of the war in Cairo. She was to become a lover at fist, dazzled by his adventures and wartime records, she eventually became the woman that became his lifelong companion; they married in 1968.
Even though he had travelled and written extensively about other countries his first love was Greece. With Joan's inheritance they bought and renovated a place in Kardamyli, and it became their refuge. Tragically Joan died after a fall at the property. One of the saddest part of the book is when he realises that he want to tell Joan something or write something to her and can't anymore.
Excellent biography. Really enjoyed it.
Cooper has written a comprehensive and sensitive biography about Fermor. He was a very talented writer, most famous for a travel books, and in particular for one on a walk across Europe in-between the wars. He wrote about other countries, and numerous articles. He was a very complex character, troubled in lots of ways, and carefree in others. The people he met either jelled with him straight away or would end up taking a dislike to him fairly soon after meeting him, one individual even tried to stab him.
He bristled against authority, and through contacts managed to get a position at Sandhurst in the guards. Illness meant that he couldn't continue and was sought and signed up for intelligence corp and departed to his beloved Greece. He had what was sometimes known as a good war, and is also well know for the abduction of a German general.
He took many lovers through his life, but he met a lady called Joan Rayner at the very end of the war in Cairo. She was to become a lover at fist, dazzled by his adventures and wartime records, she eventually became the woman that became his lifelong companion; they married in 1968.
Even though he had travelled and written extensively about other countries his first love was Greece. With Joan's inheritance they bought and renovated a place in Kardamyli, and it became their refuge. Tragically Joan died after a fall at the property. One of the saddest part of the book is when he realises that he want to tell Joan something or write something to her and can't anymore.
Excellent biography. Really enjoyed it.