This book is a must for fans of Patrick Leigh Fermor and anyone interested in mid-20th century Hungarian society. Michael O'Sullivan provides a wealth of background information on the families and places that Leigh Fermor mentions in Between the Woods and the Water, including their historical connections and their often tragic fates under the Nazi and Communists. The text is interspersed with photographs from the time of Leigh Fermor's visit in 1934 and of the locations today. The book combines meticulous research with prose that is not merely readable but stylish and engaging. The text would have benefited from more editorial attention, but this does little to detract from the great merits of this worthwhile and elegant book. ( )

Patrick Leigh Fermor – A Trip Through Youthful Encounters

Michael O’Sullivan has written a brilliant biography of one of the bravest and brilliant travel writers of all time, Patrick Leigh Fermor. The time that Fermor took this trick, the old Europe was dying and in some place’s dead, and the new Europe a war and decades away. While Fermor would eventually recall the events of the time in his autobiographical books ‘A Time of Gifts’ (1977) and ‘Between the Woods and the Water’ (1986), this book covers the events in more detail.

It was December 1933, when 18-year-old Patrick Leigh Fermor set out on what would be a three year walk from Hook of Holland to walk to Constantinople. The Nazi’s had been in power for eleven months, and the remnants of the dying Hapsburgs remained, in much reduced circumstances. While the hangover of the Great War hung heavy over Europe, where he travelled would suffer after the Second World War, when communism would cover many of the areas where Fermor had been.

The book starts at when Fermor is on the Danube and about to cross into Budapest, with a letter of introduction in his pocket, this young man was welcomed into castles and manor houses of some the oldest and grandest in Hungarian aristocracy. Some of the places where Fermor stayed would no longer be standing fifteen years later when war came to the country.

In Budapest, Fermor may have only stayed for twelve days, but was able to access many places that the mere traveller would never gain access too. From society parties, to some of the finest libraries and art in the city, to some of the most beautiful women, Fermor had access to them all. O’Sullivan has included pictures of where he stayed on his travels and some of the people he came across which adds an extra depth to this biography.

This book is actually more than just a biography, it is a social history of a noble class and a region that within the decade would be overrun by communists. Michael O’Sullivan has populated the books with photographs and has used documents source material that paints a portrait of Hungry and Transylvania on the cusp of change. Nobody knew what lay ahead, but this book shows us what was left from the First War, a noble world that was dying a very slow death.

A great book, a fantastic portrait of a lost world and the greatest travel writer at the beginning of his career. ( )