Patrick Leigh Fermor's Mani compellingly revealed a hidden world of Southern Greece and its past. Its northern counterpart takes the reader among Sarakatsan shepherds, the monasteries of Meteora and the villages of Krakora, among itinerant pedlars and beggars, and even tracks down at Missolonghi a pair of Byron's slippers. Roumeli is not on modern maps: it is the ancient name for the lands from the Bosphorus to the Adriatic and from Macedonia to the Gulf of Corinth. But it is the perfect, evocative name for the Greece that Fermor captures in writing that carries throughout his trademark vividness of description. But what is more, the pictures of people, traditions and landscapes that he creates on the page are imbued with an intimate understanding of Greece and its history.
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I have been thinking about this book for days. Some sections, (are they chapters?) stand out. The first, The Black Departers, was so impressive I reread it immediately. The Monasteries in the Air was as enthralling. But for long periods after it all became a touch dense, hard work and even tedious. Sounds of the Greek World ended the book nicely but it was too late.
Thinking about it now I had read 4 PLF books in a row and had been enthralled. Maybe this was one too many? Maybe I will reread it in years to come and wonder what it was I missed. I hope so.
