A daring behind-enemy-lines mission from the author of A Time of Gifts and The Broken Road, who was once described by the BBC as 'a cross between Indiana Jones, James Bond and Graham Greene'.
Patrick Leigh Fermor (1915-2011) was the greatest travel writer of our generation. Following his walk across Europe, he lived and travelled in the Balkans and Greek Archipelago. He joined the Irish Guards and during the occupation of Crete led the party that captured the German commander. He was awarded the DSO and OBE and was once described by the BBC as 'a cross between Indiana Jones, James Bond and Graham Greene'. Towards the end of his life he wrote the first two books about his early trans-European odyssey, A Time of Gifts and Between the Woods and the Water. He planned a third, unfinished at the time of his death in 2011, which has since been edited by Colin Thubron and Artemis Cooper and published as The Broken Road.
It takes some chutzpah to kidnap a German general - and serious
presence of mind to get away with it. Paddy, the Special Operations
Executive commander of a group of 11 Cretan andartes, or guerrilla
fighters, together with his second-in-command Captain William
Stanley Moss, had excessive stores of both . . . Abducting a
General . . . is the work of a mature man, anxious to pay proper
tribute to the Cretans who were the backbone of the resistance and
ran by far the greatest risks. His SOE reports, which run to 90
pages here, provide gripping cinematic portraits of Leigh Fermor
the soldier
*The Spectator*
Beautifully written . . . Fermor's love of Crete and scholarly
knowledge of the Classics exude from the pages
*The Times*
As a pure adventure story . . . it is hard to beat
*Financial Times*
Superb . . . Leigh Fermor's many fans will find plenty of the old
master's fizz in this resurrected work . . . irresistible
*Scotsman*
Paddy's vividly idiomatic reports irresistibly take us in to the
skulduggery and derring-do . . . a wonderful story
*Jan Morris, Literary Review*
The late, great Pagrick Leigh Fermor, described as a cross between
Indiana Jones, James Bond and Graham Greene, first became famous in
1944 for his daring kidnap of high-ranking German general . . .
Afficionados of the tale were spoilt this year
*Daily Express*
Gripping buccaneering of the old school
*Sun*
Paddy was the Byron of our time
*Standpoint*
A riveting first-hand account
*Good Book Guide*
Abducting a General is filled with the same rich exuberant prose
[as his trilogy] and fulfils its objective as portraying the Cretan
people as the true heroes of the resistance
*TLS*
What shines through in Leigh Fermor's account is his connection to
and respect and admiration for the spirit of the Cretan people
*Daily Mail*
A glorious first-hand account of one of the great adventures of the
Second World War
*Gentleman's Journal*
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