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Item Condition: Used; Very Good
THE VIOLINS OF SAINT-JACQUES
PATRICK LEIGH FERMOR
Epilogue by Simon IFinchester
Originally published in 1953, The Violins of Saint-Jacques
was immediately hailed as a rare and exotic sweep of
colour across the drab monochrome of the post-war
years. Set in the Caribbean on an island of tropical luxury,
European decadence, and romantic passion, the story
captures both the delicacy of high society entanglements
and the unforeseen drama of forces beyond human
control. Throughout, Fermor's writing is as beautiful and
haunting as the sound of the violins which rises from the
water and conceals the story's mystery.
The book has lost nothing of its original flavour. It
endures because of Leigh Fermor's descriptive powers,
exhibited nowhere so strikingly, and because his
eloquence is, as Simon Winchester makes clear in his
epilogue, "wedded firmly toa profound knowledge of his
region and its history and its people'.
Beautiful is the adjective which comes uppermost...
outstanding descriptive powers.
John Betjeman