After his walk across Europe, Patrick Leigh Fermor lived and travelled in the Balkans and the Greek Archipelago. In the Second World War he joined the Irish Guards, became a liaison officer in Albania and fought in Greece and Crete - living disguised as a shepherd in the mountains for two years organising resistance activities. He was awarded the DSO and CBE, and a knighthood in the 2004 new Year Honours List. His writing career, spanning over fifty years, includes six other titles available in John Murray paperback. He lives in Greece, in a house he designed and built.
'Between the Woods and the Water is a book so good your resent finishing it.' -- Sunday Times 'The finest travelling companion we could ever have... His head is stocked with cultural lore and poetic fancy to make every league an adventure.' Christopher Hudson -- Evening Standard 'As full of zest, joy and delight as its predecessor' -- Country Life 'He is exploring the very furthest boundaries of the genre.' -- Jan Morris, The Times 'The most enjoyable living writer to be published this year' -- Peter Levi, The Spectator 'I have never enjoyed a travel book more and I would doubt if I will ever enjoy one so much again' -- Robin Lane Fox 'Rightly considered to be among the most beautiful travel books in the language' -- Independent 20040814 'Bringing the landscape alive as no other writer can, he uses his profound and eclectic understanding of cultures and peoples ... to paint vivid pictures - nobody has illuminated the geography of Europe better' -- Geographical Magazine 20040801 'John Murray is doing the decent thing and reissuing all of Leigh Fermor's main books ... But what else would you expect from a publisher whose commitment to geography is such that for more than two centuries it has widened our understanding of the world?' -- Geographical Magazine 20040801 'For a spirited introduction [to the Balkans] try Patrick Leigh Fermor's account of a 1930s walk from Hungary to Romania and Bulgaria...rich in local history and a formative book in the rise of modern travel writing' - David Mattin -- The Times 20060422