{"product_id":"a-time-to-keep-silence-isbn-9781590172445","title":"A Time to Keep Silence","description":"While still a teenager, Patrick Leigh Fermor made his way across Europe, as recounted in his classic memoirs, \u003ci\u003eA Time of Gifts\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eBetween the Woods and the Water\u003c\/i\u003e. During World War II, he fought with local partisans against the Nazi occupiers of Crete. But in \u003ci\u003eA Time to Keep Silence\u003c\/i\u003e,  Leigh Fermor writes about a more inward journey, describing his several  sojourns in some of Europe’s oldest and most venerable monasteries. He  stays at the Abbey of St. Wandrille, a great repository of art and  learning; at Solesmes, famous for its revival of Gregorian chant; and at  the deeply ascetic Trappist monastery of La Grande Trappe, where monks  take a vow of silence. Finally, he visits the rock monasteries of  Cappadocia, hewn from the stony spires of a moonlike landscape, where he  seeks some trace of the life of the earliest Christian anchorites.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMore  than a history or travel journal, however, this beautiful short book is  a meditation on the meaning of silence and solitude for modern life.  Leigh Fermor writes, “In the seclusion of a cell—an existence whose  quietness is only varied by the silent meals, the solemnity of ritual,  and long solitary walks in the woods—the troubled waters of the mind  grow still and clear, and much that is hidden away and all that clouds  it floats to the surface and can be skimmed away; and after a time one  reaches a state of peace that is unthought of in the ordinary world.”\"Delightful…His book is not only an admirable piece of travel writing; it is also a brilliant piece of human exploration.\" — \u003ci\u003eThe New Statesman\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \"Prose lapidary and evocative enough to please even the hardiest skeptic.\" — \u003ci\u003eThe Washington Post\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\"His shortest book (and to my mind his best)…its hammered terseness is…a good match for the sobriety of the subject.\" — Anthony Lane, \u003ci\u003eThe New Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \"Fermor writes logbooks of discovery, keenly meandering through  architecture, music, art, history and the minutiae of everyday  life…[His] erudition and courage are matched by his discerning  compassion, which shapes the probing character sketches that populate  his books, including \u003ci\u003eA Time to Keep Silence\u003c\/i\u003e.\" — \u003ci\u003eLos Angeles Times\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \"A most successful attempt to portray the reactions of the man of the  world (in the literal sense) when confronted with the monastic life.\" — \u003ci\u003eDaily Telegraph\u003c\/i\u003e (UK)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePraise for  Patrick Leigh Fermor: \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \"One of the greatest travel writers of all time”–\u003ci\u003eThe Sunday  Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e “A unique mixture of hero, historian, traveler and writer; the last and     the greatest of a generation whose like we won't see again.”–\u003ci\u003eGeographical\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e “The finest  traveling companion we could ever have . . . His head is    stocked with enough cultural  lore and poetic fancy to make every  league   an adventure.” –\u003ci\u003eEvening Standard\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIf all Europe  were   laid waste tomorrow, one might do worse than attempt  to recreate  it, or   at least to preserve some sense of historical  splendor and  variety,  by  immersing oneself in the travel books of  Patrick Leigh  Fermor.”—Ben   Downing, \u003ci\u003eThe Paris Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003ePatrick Leigh Fermor\u003c\/b\u003e (1915-2011) was an intrepid traveler, a heroic  soldier, and a writer with a unique prose style. After his stormy  schooldays, followed by the walk across Europe to Constantinople that  begins in \u003ci\u003eA Time of Gifts\u003c\/i\u003e (1977) and continues through \u003ci\u003eBetween the Woods and the Water\u003c\/i\u003e (1986), he lived and traveled in the Balkans and the Greek Archipelago. His books \u003ci\u003eMani\u003c\/i\u003e (1958) and \u003ci\u003eRoumeli\u003c\/i\u003e (1966) attest to his deep interest in languages and remote places. In  the Second World War he joined the Irish Guards, became a liaison officer  in Albania, and fought in Greece and Crete. He was awarded the DSO and  OBE. He lived partly in Greece—in the house he designed with his wife,  Joan, in an olive grove in the Mani—and partly in Worcestershire. He was  knighted in 2004 for his services to literature and to British–Greek  relations.  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003eKaren Armstrong\u003c\/b\u003e, a historian of religion, spent seven  years in a Roman Catholic religious order; she has written about this  experience in \u003ci\u003eThrough the Narrow Gate\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Spiral Staircase\u003c\/i\u003e. She is also the author of many books, including \u003ci\u003eA History of God\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Great Transformation\u003c\/i\u003e, and, most recently, \u003ci\u003eThe Bible: A Biography.\u003c\/i\u003e","brand":"NYRB Classics","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46299981644005,"sku":"NP9781590172445","price":15.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9781590172445.jpg?v=1767720862","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/a-time-to-keep-silence-isbn-9781590172445","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}