A Time Of Gifts

Another book set a high bar that lives up to its billing. What is this? Is it a dream, a fantasy? It would not be surprising to discover that young Paddy is actually laid up with consumption and is indulging in a fantasy trip across Europe with the help of atlases and encyclopedias. He is travelling through history as the nervous Thirties shift into high gear. There are literally Nazis in the street, confronting him for being English, but also aristocratic Junkers giving him a bed for the night and free range of their extensive libraries. He is super-present but also oddly disconnected. It is a Europe of snow and mist and literary and historical introspection, as well as dossing down in the workhouse. I loved the sheer depth of his own personality and perspectives. He is not just looking at a bend in the river, but he is seeing the river turn for Constantinople and all of the history of warfare and trade and language and architecture at that bend.

Fully expecting to be let down by the sequel …