Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

  • A Time of Gifts

  • On Foot to Constantinople: from the Hook of Holland to the Middle Danube
  • By: Patrick Leigh Fermor
  • Narrated by: Crispin Redman
  • Length: 12 hrs and 51 mins
  • 4.2 out of 5 stars (187 ratings)
Offer ends May 1st, 2024 11:59PM GMT. Terms and conditions apply.
£7.99/month after 3 months. Renews automatically.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
A Time of Gifts cover art

A Time of Gifts

By: Patrick Leigh Fermor
Narrated by: Crispin Redman
Get this deal Try for £0.00

Pay £99p/month. After 3 months pay £7.99/month. Renews automatically. See terms for eligibility.

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Listeners also enjoyed...

Between the Woods and the Water cover art
A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush cover art
The Road to Oxiana cover art
Cider with Rosie cover art
Parallel Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans cover art
Shadow of the Silk Road cover art
Rural Rides cover art
The Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England cover art
Venice cover art
Aimless Love cover art
The Adventure of English cover art
The Fire Rose cover art
Castles in the Air cover art
The Emigrants: Ambros Adelwarth (Dramatised) cover art
Orlando cover art
Journey to the Center of the Earth: A Signature Performance by Tim Curry cover art

Summary

In 1933, at the age of 18, Patrick Leigh Fermor set out on an extraordinary journey by foot - from the Hook of Holland to Constantinople. A Time of Gifts is the first volume in a trilogy recounting the trip, and takes the listener with him as far as Hungary.

It is a book of compelling glimpses - not only of the events that were curdling Europe at that time, but also of its resplendent domes and monasteries, its great rivers, the sun on the Bavarian snow, the storks and frogs, the hospitable burgomasters who welcomed him, and that world's grandeurs and courtesies. His powers of recollection have astonishing sweep and verve, and the scope is majestic.

©1977 The estate of Patrick Leigh Fermor (P)2014 Hodder & Stoughton

Critic reviews

"Nothing short of a masterpiece" (Jan Morris)
"Not only is the 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 Telegraph)
"Rightly considered to be among the most beautiful travel books in the language" ( Independent)

What listeners say about A Time of Gifts

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    90
  • 4 Stars
    53
  • 3 Stars
    33
  • 2 Stars
    7
  • 1 Stars
    4
Performance
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    79
  • 4 Stars
    49
  • 3 Stars
    32
  • 2 Stars
    6
  • 1 Stars
    4
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    90
  • 4 Stars
    39
  • 3 Stars
    27
  • 2 Stars
    9
  • 1 Stars
    3

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

An unusual, sometimes magical, travel book

I found this a rather strange book. I am glad that I listened to it, yet I am also rather ambivalent about its faithfulness. My reason is that the author, an upper-class, precocious and scholarly youth, walked across Europe in the early 1930’s as an 18yr old, but does not seem to have written up his account until 1977, when he would have been in his 60’s. Taken as a whole, I found it an impressive piece of writing, although there were times when I thought it was pretentious and prolix. However, if you immerse yourself in the world that Leigh Fermor invokes, and listen to the poetic and sometimes fantastical quality of his prose, and take it as an ‘out of the box’ reading experience, then I think you will have to give credit to the intellect that conjured it up. It may be uncharitable, but I suspect it was mainly written to satisfy the authors ego and to relive memories of youth. As I said, I am really glad to have listened to it, but I shall not be re-reading it, or choosing this author again. Too harsh perhaps.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

12 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Maybe better to read this at leisure

Would you try another book written by Patrick Leigh Fermor or narrated by Crispin Redman?

I am tempted to read the sequel rather than listen to the audio, which I found rather rushed.

What did you like best about this story?

The feeling of landscape and the times of the period between the wars. People's values and way of life are very well captured.

What three words best describe Crispin Redman’s performance?

Sounds like JustAMinute. It felt like he was racing not to hesitate, deviate from the subject or otherwise be caught out by Nicholas Parsons. I suppose there are a lot of words to read, but I found the delivery tiring after a while.

Was A Time of Gifts worth the listening time?

Yes I did enjoy it, but I am not sure about Listening to the sequel.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

11 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
  • S
  • 30-09-17

Geat story spoilt by narrator

I love this book but found the audio version seriously spoilt by the narrator. For a book largely set in German-speaking countries, & with many snippets of German, amongst other languages in the text, someone able to pronounce the language properly would have been a better choice; some of Crispin Redman's attempts are virtually unintelligible. Also his atrocious 'Allo-'Allo style cod-German accent when rendering quotes from German-speaking protagonists is rather wearing after a while.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Go Along For The Ride

I found that once I had got past the initial cynicism that invariably occurs everytime I read memoirs by people who seem able to recall every single detail of events that occurred ages ago and stopped wondering how they could have remembered it all (particularly with diaries being lost, copious quantities of drink consumed, etc.!) and simply concentrated on the story he was telling, this made a wonderful account of events that could, and possibly did, more-or-less take place in an era that is now, quite literally, history. Basically, it helped to adopt the journalistic maxim of not letting the facts get in the way of a good story.

As someone whom my art historian friend would quite rightly describe as a 'complete intellectual peasant' I did find the lengthy musings on schools of painting, architectural styles and linguistic derivations as rather irritating 'fillers' that interrupted an otherwise great, and frequently funny, story and found the idea of an 18-year fixating on whether or not Shakespeare's reference to 'the coast of Bohemia' was geographically and historically accurate somewhat bizarre - didn't he have other things to worry about? - but these were minor 'bumps in the road' compared to the overall enjoyment I derived. In fact, approaching the end of this book it was an easy decision to buy the next two books in the trilogy.

Much of the credit for my enjoyment must go to the wonderful narration of Crispin Redman - I only wish I could give him 10 stars instead of 5. What an absolutely wonderful case he makes for audible books. If there is some way by which my appreciation of his performance could be passed-on I would be delighted.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Spoilt by inappropriate narration.

I first read the first two volumes shortly after they were published and I thought it would be enjoyable to listen to these again before listening to The Broken Road. I wish I had just bought the third volume and read it.
This is a book, not a play. I am possibly in a minority but in an audiobook I want the book to be read, not acted. Crispin Redman reads as if this were a soliloquy, giving almost every word an exaggerated emphasis. This, and the high-speed delivery of someone who seems over exited and wants to blurt out the story in the shortest time, is very quickly tiring to me.
I would prefer a measured, relaxed reading. The words and one's imagination are all that is required.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Travel journal

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

yes, fascinating journey beautifully described

What did you like best about this story?

The picture of 1930s Europe

Which scene did you most enjoy?

The time in Vienna

Any additional comments?

A really good read

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

Timeless and brilliant work; appalling narration

PLF's brilliant book ruined by terrible narration. The worst thing about the narrator is not his consistent mispronunciation of not just foreign words but also perfectly common English ones, but his habit of laying the stress on the least significant words in every sentence, thus distorting the sense. This hinders enjoyment and even comprehension throughout. Such shamelessly horrific narration of this classic work should not be allowed.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Beautifully evocative

Capturing the time and the place wonderfully.
Patrick Leigh Fermor deserves his reputation as a travel writer of note.
I will definitely be reading the other two volumes of his travels.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

sunrise of Nazism

Absorbing account of Patrick's trek across five countries in Europe including Germany and the rumbling emergence of Nazism. Excellent narration.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars
  • R
  • 12-07-15

I urge anyone embarking on this book to first....

Would you consider the audio edition of A Time of Gifts to be better than the print version?

Wouldn't know

What was one of the most memorable moments of A Time of Gifts?

It's a delightful book which I took a while to finish initially.

Did Crispin Redman do a good job differentiating each of the characters? How?

Yeah he's pretty good.

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Just fascinating listening to a guys travels through Euorope before the war

Any additional comments?

I happened to stumble onto another book Natural Born Heroes by Christopher McDougall which blew this book wide open for me. The character is nothing short of a charming James Bond. I urge anyone embarking on this book to listen to Natural Born Heroes first.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful