''The Broken Road'' (2013) is a
travel book by British author
Patrick Leigh Fermor
Sir Patrick Michael Leigh Fermor (11 February 1915 – 10 June 2011) was an English writer, scholar, soldier and polyglot. He played a prominent role in the Cretan resistance during the Second World War, and was widely seen as Britain's greates ...
. Published posthumously by
John Murray, the book, edited and introduced by his biographer
Artemis Cooper
Artemis Cooper, Lady Beevor FRSL (born Alice Clare Antonia Opportune Cooper; 22 April 1953) is a British writer, primarily of biographies. She is married to historian Sir Antony Beevor.
Family life
She is the only daughter of The 2nd Viscou ...
and travel writer
Colin Thubron
Colin Gerald Dryden Thubron, FRAS (born 14 June 1939) is a British travel writer and novelist. In 2008, ''The Times'' ranked him among the 50 greatest postwar British writers. He is a contributor to ''The New York Review of Books'', , narrates almost all of the final section of the author's journey on foot across Europe from the
Hook of Holland
Hook of Holland ( nl, Hoek van Holland, ) is a town in the southwestern corner of Holland, hence the name; ''hoek'' means "corner" and was the word in use before the word ''kaap'' – "cape", from Portuguese ''cabo'' – became Dutch. The English t ...
to
Constantinople
la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه
, alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya ( Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis ( ...
in 1933 and '34.
The first book, ''
A Time of Gifts
''A Time of Gifts'' (1977) is a travel book by British author Patrick Leigh Fermor. Published by John Murray when the author was 62, it is a memoir of the first part of Fermor's journey on foot across Europe from the Hook of Holland to Constanti ...
'' (1977), narrates Leigh Fermor's journey as far as the
Middle Danube
The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , pa ...
. The second volume, ''
Between the Woods and the Water
''Between the Woods and the Water'' is a travel book by British author Patrick Leigh Fermor, the second in a series of three books narrating the author's journey on foot across Europe from the Hook of Holland to Constantinople in 1933/34.
The fi ...
'' (1986), begins with the author crossing the
Mária Valéria bridge from Czechoslovakia into Hungary and ends when he reaches the
Iron Gate, where the Danube formed the boundary between the
Kingdom of Yugoslavia
The Kingdom of Yugoslavia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Kraljevina Jugoslavija, Краљевина Југославија; sl, Kraljevina Jugoslavija) was a state in Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 until 1941. From 1918 ...
and Romania. He never published the third volume, but in 2011 Leigh Fermor's publisher,
John Murray announced that it would publish the final volume, drawing from his diary at the time and an early draft that he wrote in the 1960s, subsequently releasing it in September 2013.
The cover design is by
Ed Kluz;
John Craxton
John Leith Craxton RA, (3 October 1922 – 17 November 2009) was an English painter. He was sometimes called a neo-Romantic artist but he preferred to be known as a "kind of Arcadian".
Biography
Career
John was the son of musician Harold ...
who designed the other volumes, had died in 2009.
"The story of a cover: The Broken Road by Patrick Leigh Fermor"
The Beagle blog of John Murray
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Broken Road, The
2013 non-fiction books
British travel books
Books published posthumously
English non-fiction books
John Murray (publishing house) books