In spring 1956, Deborah, Duchess of Devonshire - youngest of the six legendary Mitford sisters - invited the writer and war hero Patrick Leigh Fermor to visit Lismore Castle, the Devonshires' house in Ireland. This halcyon visit sparked off a deep friendship and a lifelong exchange of sporadic but highly entertaining letters.
There can rarely have been such contrasting styles: Debo, unashamed philistine and self-professed illiterate (though suspected by her friends of being a secret reader), darts from subject to subject while Paddy, polyglot, widely read prose virtuoso, replies in the fluent, polished manner that has earned him recognition as one of the finest writers in the English language.
Prose notwithstanding, the two friends have much in common: a huge enjoyment of life, youthful high spirits, warmth, generosity and lack of malice. There are glimpses of President Kennedy's inauguration, weekends at Sandringham, stag hunting in France, filming with Errol Flynn in French Equatorial Africa and, above all, of life at Chatsworth, the great house that Debo spent much of her life restoring, and of Paddy in the house that he and his wife Joan designed and built on the southernmost peninsula of Greece.
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“This is a book about shooting game and raising chickens, attending balls and renovating halls, matters of households and hedgerows, all of it recounted in Debo’s distinct and often charming voice.” —The Daily Beast
"Spanning 1954 to 2007, the volume reads like an accidental memoir of a disappearing world stretching from the manor houses of the English aristocracy to the olive groves of Greece, its people and places rendered with a kind of care that's becoming scarce in our age of helter-skelter communication. At the same time, the book's title, a phrase deriving from Leigh Fermor's habit of dashing off messages 'with a foot in the stirrup,' captures the vigor and bustle of the lives that nourished the correspondence....In Tearing Haste is engaging from start to finish. There isn't a dull letter among Charlotte Mosley's selections. Even her annotations, often incorporating information from the book's two correspondents, are as surprising as they are informative....More than anything else, the collection is important as an addition to Leigh Fermor's body of work, both because his letters constitute a larger portion of the volume and because the writing in them harmonizes with the books that established his literary reputation." --The Nation
“This is a book that evokes a lost world of glamour, intelligence and personal scruples. The memory of its pristine landscapes, resolute gaiety and eccentric characters leaves a glorious afterglow.”
–Sunday Telegraph
“Spanning half a century, bursting with wit and conviviality...the result is surely one of the great 20th-century correspondence.”
–The Observer (London)
“This marvelous correspondence celebrates two of the most important things in the world, courage and friendship”
–The Spectator
“Highly engaging exchanges of mutual joie de vivre”
–The Times
“...as full of fizz and conviviality as a glass of champagne”
–Metro
“A feast for reading...An enchanting book”
–Irish Examiner
“Chatty, witty, teasing, gossipy, relentlessly cheerful and with more than a hint of modest good sense, her short replies bounce off his beautiful essays like volleys of tennis balls off a cathedral.” –The Scotsman
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Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. In spring 1956, Deborah, Duchess of Devonshire - youngest of the six legendary Mitford sisters - invited the writer and war hero Patrick Leigh Fermor to visit Lismore Castle, the Devonshires' house in Ireland. This halcyon visit sparked off a deep friendship and a lifelong exchange of sporadic but highly entertaining letters.There can rarely have been such contrasting styles: Debo, unashamed philistine and self-professed illiterate (though suspected by her friends of being a secret reader), darts from subject to subject while Paddy, polyglot, widely read prose virtuoso, replies in the fluent, polished manner that has earned him recognition as one of the finest writers in the English language.Prose notwithstanding, the two friends have much in common: a huge enjoyment of life, youthful high spirits, warmth, generosity and lack of malice. There are glimpses of President Kennedy's inauguration, weekends at Sandringham, stag hunting in France, filming with Errol Flynn in French Equatorial Africa and, above all, of life at Chatsworth, the great house that Debo spent much of her life restoring, and of Paddy in the house that he and his wife Joan designed and built on the southernmost peninsula of Greece. The bestselling letters between Deborah Devonshire and Patrick Leigh Fermor. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability. Seller Inventory # 9780719568572
Book Description paperback. Condition: New. Language: ENG. Seller Inventory # 9780719568572
Book Description Paperback / softback. Condition: New. New copy - Usually dispatched within 4 working days. The bestselling letters between Deborah Devonshire and Patrick Leigh Fermor. Seller Inventory # B9780719568572
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Book Description Condition: New. New! This book is in the same immaculate condition as when it was published 0.62. Seller Inventory # 353-0719568579-new
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Book Description Paperback. Condition: Brand New. 416 pages. 7.80x5.08x1.06 inches. In Stock. Seller Inventory # __0719568579
Book Description Condition: New. 2009. New Edition. Paperback. The bestselling letters between Deborah Devonshire and Patrick Leigh Fermor. Num Pages: 416 pages. BIC Classification: BJ; BM. Category: (G) General (US: Trade). Dimension: 197 x 129 x 27. Weight in Grams: 304. . . . . . Seller Inventory # V9780719568572
Book Description Condition: New. 2009. New Edition. Paperback. The bestselling letters between Deborah Devonshire and Patrick Leigh Fermor. Num Pages: 416 pages. BIC Classification: BJ; BM. Category: (G) General (US: Trade). Dimension: 197 x 129 x 27. Weight in Grams: 304. . . . . . Books ship from the US and Ireland. Seller Inventory # V9780719568572