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A Thing of Beauty cover art

A Thing of Beauty

By: Peter Fiennes
Narrated by: Peter Fiennes
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Summary

Longlisted for the Anglo-Hellenic League Runciman Award 2022

What do the Greek myths mean to us today?

It’s now a golden age for these tales - they crop up in novels, films and popular culture. But what’s the modern relevance of Theseus, Hera and Pandora? Were these stories ever meant for children? And what’s to be seen now at the places where heroes fought and gods once quarrelled?

Peter Fiennes travels to the sites of some of the most famous Greek myths, on the trail of hope, beauty and a new way of seeing what we have done to our world. Fiennes walks through landscapes - stunning and spoiled - on the trail of dancing activists and Arcadian shepherds, finds the ‘most beautiful beach in Greece’, consults the Oracle and loses himself in the cities, remote villages and ruins of this storied land.
©2021 Peter Fiennes (P)2022 W F Howes
Europe Travel Writing & Commentary
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Critic reviews

"Peter Fiennes’ road trip around Greece [is] engagingly described." (Mary Beard, TLS)

"A wonderful book by a wonderful writer." (Tom Holland)

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Profile Image for John M

A real thing of beauty!

it’s like an absorbing walk with a breathlessly enthusiastic friend, keen to share his compendia of knowledge on the journey and from which you will emerge much wiser, but somewhat saddened from the experience.
This is my first encounter with the author’s work, so I will look forward to more sojourns with this most interesting of companions, but I am already wistful that our walks won’t take in more of the addictive magic that is Mr Fienne’s Greece. Perhaps the Islands next??

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