About the Author

Adam Sisman is the author of several biographies, most recently of John le Carre. His Boswell's Presumptuous Task won the prestigious US National Book Critics Circle Award for Biography. He is also co-editor of One Hundred Letters, a volume of selected letters of Hugh Trevor-Roper. Adam is an Honorary Fellow of the University of St Andrews, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

Reviews

Wow - one tour de force after another! The best letters are as good as - if not better than - any in the language: Byron's, Walpole's, Henry James's, Freya Stark's. Often I laughed aloud, tears coursing down the cheeksZestful, vivid and buoyant with polymathic learning, Leigh Fermor's letters reveal themselves perfect for anthology. There are descriptions and anecdotes equal to anything in his writing, spurred by memorable friendships, suffused with affection and occasional distress: all finely edited by Adam SismanHugely entertaining, funny and occasionally moving . . . edited meticulously and brilliantly - ObserverZest, verbal finesse, almost pristine receptivity and a richly informed cultural and historical consciousness make these letters, even when the erosions of time and illness shadow them, irresistibly exhilarating - Sunday TimesAdam Sisman is a model editor . . . Reading these letters is like gobbling down a tray of exotically filled chocolates, with no horrible orange creams to put you off - Literary ReviewHere is a veritable feast for fans of Paddy Leigh Fermor . . . Sisman has done a tremendous job selecting and editing this treasure-trove of letters - The SpectatorGlorious, heady stuff . . . judiciously edited by Adam Sisman - Evening StandardAdam Sisman's selection of Patrick Leigh Fermor's letters is entirely admirable . . . an unmissable feast - Daily Telegraph