These promotions will be applied to this item:

Some promotions may be combined; others are not eligible to be combined with other offers. For details, please see the Terms & Conditions associated with these promotions.

You've subscribed to ! We will preorder your items within 24 hours of when they become available. When new books are released, we'll charge your default payment method for the lowest price available during the pre-order period.
Update your device or payment method, cancel individual pre-orders or your subscription at
Your Memberships & Subscriptions
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the authors

Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

The Traveller's Tree: A Journey Through the Carribean Islands (New York Review Books Classics) Kindle Edition

4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 138 ratings

In the late 1940s Patrick Leigh Fermor, now widely regarded as one of the twentieth century’s greatest travel writers, set out to explore the then relatively little-visited islands of the Caribbean. Rather than a comprehensive political or historical study of the region, The Traveller’s Tree, Leigh Fermor’s first book, gives us his own vivid, idiosyncratic impressions of Guadeloupe, Martinique, Dominica, Barbados, Trinidad, and Haiti, among other islands. Here we watch Leigh Fermor walk the dusty roads of the countryside and the broad avenues of former colonial capitals, equally at home among the peasant and the elite, the laborer and the artist. He listens to steel drum bands, delights in the Congo dancing that closes out Havana’s Carnival, and observes vodou and Rastafarian rites, all with the generous curiosity and easy erudition that readers will recognize from his subsequent classic accounts A Time of Gifts and Between the Woods and the Water.
Due to its large file size, this book may take longer to download

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Leigh Fermor exults in the otherness of the far-flung place… . He demands nothing from those countries save an opportunity to slip quietly under their skin." —Anthony Lane, The New Yorker

"Being a natural romantic, Leigh Fermor was able to probe the hidden recesses of this mixed civilization and to present us with a picture of the Indies more penetrating and original than any that has been presented before." —Harold Nicholson,
The Observer

"Before mass-market guides like
Frommer’s and Lonely Planet, travelogues were tourists’ main resources outside Europe. For the 1950s Caribbean, Patrick Leigh Fermor’s The Traveller’s Tree was the bible." —The New York Times

"Still the best piece of travel writing on the Caribbean." —
The Guardian

Praise for Patrick Leigh Fermor:

"One of the greatest travel writers of all time”–
The Sunday Times

“A unique mixture of hero, historian, traveler and writer; the last and the greatest of a generation whose like we won't see again.”–
Geographical

“The finest traveling companion we could ever have . . . His head is stocked with enough cultural lore and poetic fancy to make every league an adventure.” –
Evening Standard

If all Europe were laid waste tomorrow, one might do worse than attempt to recreate it, or at least to preserve some sense of historical splendor and variety, by immersing oneself in the travel books of Patrick Leigh Fermor.”—Ben Downing,
The Paris Review

About the Author

Patrick Leigh Fermor (1915-2011) was an intrepid traveler, a heroic soldier, and a writer with a unique prose style. After his stormy schooldays, followed by the walk across Europe to Constantinople that begins in A Time of Gifts (1977) and continues through Between the Woods and the Water (1986), he lived and traveled in the Balkans and the Greek Archipelago. His books Mani (1958) and Roumeli (1966) attest to his deep interest in languages and remote places. In the Second World War he joined the Irish Guards, became a liaison officer in Albania, and fought in Greece and Crete. He was awarded the DSO and OBE. He lived partly in Greece—in the house he designed with his wife, Joan, in an olive grove in the Mani—and partly in Worcestershire. He was knighted in 2004 for his services to literature and to British–Greek relations.

Joshua Jelly-Schapiro is a doctoral student in geography at the University of California, Berkeley. He has written for The Guardian, The Believer, The Nation, Foreign Policy, and The New York Review of Books, among other publications.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B005EH3BP0
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ NYRB Classics; Reprint edition (November 9, 2011)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ November 9, 2011
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 19992 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 420 pages
  • Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 0719566843
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 138 ratings

About the authors

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.

Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars
138 global ratings

Review this product

Share your thoughts with other customers

Customers say

Customers find the book interesting and informative about the Caribbean. They appreciate the detail and cultural gems in it. Readers describe it as thorough and providing a good background to what is happening there today. However, opinions differ on the writing style - some find it well-written and poetic, while others feel it's outdated or flowery.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

Select to learn more
8 customers mention "Interest"8 positive0 negative

Customers find the book interesting and informative. They appreciate the detail and wonder of the author's work. The book is described as a delightful read with good experiences and history.

"...The detailed history which Fermor gives of each island is always fascinating and well-told, and helps to put the sights, sounds, smells he..." Read more

"In this delightful tome, Patrick Leigh Fermor takes us to a number of Caribbean islands in the post-war, pre-tourism era; and in so doing he..." Read more

"...trying to read it and get through it because it has so much information about history and is filled with beautiful poetic language and words and..." Read more

"Interesting read if you are fond of the Caribbean but some sections are obvious, painfully over-written, almost like high school creative writing..." Read more

7 customers mention "Detail"7 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the book's detail on Caribbean culture. They find it thorough and provide a real background to what is happening there today. The author's skill in observation and writing are appreciated.

"...gives of each island is always fascinating and well-told, and helps to put the sights, sounds, smells he encounters into a deeper context, lending..." Read more

"...in the Caribbean -- only a handful -- but in that handful he dishes out detail and cultural gems of a Caribbean that no longer exists...." Read more

"Give it time and it gets more detailed and overall better." Read more

"...I have read all of his work published to date. This book is the most thorough I have ever seen on Caribbean culture and even though written in..." Read more

11 customers mention "Writing style"7 positive4 negative

Customers have different views on the writing style. Some find it well-written with poetic language and subjects they've never heard before. Others feel the word choice is outdated, flowery, and overwritten.

"...yet, he is anything but smug or bluff, but rather singularly self-effacing in all his writing, falling in love, or yearning to do so, with everyone..." Read more

"...you are fond of the Caribbean but some sections are obvious, painfully over-written, almost like high school creative writing class." Read more

"...it has so much information about history and is filled with beautiful poetic language and words and subjects I've never heard before." Read more

"...passed on at age 92 but the quality of his observation then skill in writing is amazing. I have read all of his work published to date...." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on February 9, 2011
    Paddy Fermor is an absolutely sui-generis person and writer. This post-war account of his travels through the Caribbean isles comes on the heels of his service with the SOE behind enemy lines in Greece and Crete where he, amongst other things, was the only agent - of whom I am aware - to capture a Nazi General single-handedly, in occupied Greece. And yet, he is anything but smug or bluff, but rather singularly self-effacing in all his writing, falling in love, or yearning to do so, with everyone and, more significantly here, every place where he sojourns and giving the people and the place centre-stage. Also, he refrains from even a hint of talking down to the reader and gives him/her conversations in the French Créole patois as he hears them, and weaves his erudition into the lush writing in a manner which involves the reader with a particular island's lore and history in a mesmerising, rather than off-putting manner. The detailed history which Fermor gives of each island is always fascinating and well-told, and helps to put the sights, sounds, smells he encounters into a deeper context, lending the reader his own deep sense of atavism such as one usually only encounters in works of great literature, such as the best of Conrad and Powys.

    It is quite beyond the scope of a review such as this one to attempt to impart Fermor's experience on each of the islands, or to compare or to contrast them. There is this book for that! It is even beyond the scope of this reviewer to delve the into Fermor's impressionistic, Romantic mindset, for Fermor does it much better himself describing Martinique:

    "We rose to leave when the rain abated, and found that the moon had broken through the clouds. The garden was a faint constellation of flowers that were only distinguishable by their pallor from the darkness. Under the dripping mango trees, tier on tier of lawn descended into the darkness. The air was warm and scented, and the forest, faintly rimmed with silver, completely surrounded this high, sloping world. The singing of some Negro women floated up from the village with the echo of the falling waves and the faint gasp of the shingle.

    Moments like this fill one with gratitude; not necessarily so much because of their incidental beauty, but because of the understanding they bring; they act as a Rosetta stone to a whole system of hieroglyphs. That house, those lights and voices and flowers and smells and sounds, I felt, gave me a better chance of grasping the atmosphere, the scope and mood of Créole life in the Antilles than a library full of memoirs and chronicles."

    Not to the exclusion of memoirs and chronicles, to be sure, but the reader must surely succumb to the poetic nuances of Fermor's prose to grasp this enchanted Rosetta stone and develop a sixth sense as to places and people in the reading of this unique labour of love.
    42 people found this helpful
    Report
  • Reviewed in the United States on June 21, 2012
    In this delightful tome, Patrick Leigh Fermor takes us to a number of Caribbean islands in the post-war, pre-tourism era; and in so doing he burnishes his reputation as perhaps the best travel writer of modern times. To his credit, Fermor does not attempt to hit all the islands in the Caribbean -- only a handful -- but in that handful he dishes out detail and cultural gems of a Caribbean that no longer exists. There are few cruise ships and opulent hotels in Fermor's Caribbean. Rather, there are societies that have been shaped by geography, the invasion of European settlers in the Age of Exploration and, perhaps most of all, the bitter disaster of centuries of slavery. Fermor delves into these influences with great gusto and incredible detail. Of particular note are his several chapters on Haiti, which focus mainly on Voodooism, which so defines the turbulent history of the country. His description of the many facets of that mysterious belief system are definitive. In his first books, "A Time of Gifts" and "Between the Woods and the Water", Fermor, walking from The Netherlands to Istanbul, described in chilling detail a Europe about to be smashed by World War II. In "The Traveller's Tree" he gives us a region about to be forever altered by tourism. It's a book rich in detail and wonder -- testament to this legendary travel writer's skill.
    9 people found this helpful
    Report
  • Reviewed in the United States on April 30, 2024
    Give it time and it gets more detailed and overall better.
  • Reviewed in the United States on January 6, 2024
    This is an Incredible Book I am a readaholic and I'm still trying to read it and get through it because it has so much information about history and is filled with beautiful poetic language and words and subjects I've never heard before.
  • Reviewed in the United States on January 3, 2013
    Interesting read if you are fond of the Caribbean but some sections are obvious, painfully over-written, almost like high school creative writing class.
    One person found this helpful
    Report
  • Reviewed in the United States on January 27, 2014
    Sadly Mr. Fermor has passed on at age 92 but the quality of his observation then skill in writing is amazing. I have read all of his work published to date. This book is the most thorough I have ever seen on Caribbean culture and even though written in 1947 it provides the real background to what is happening there today. A delight to read - never boring and his other works are equally edifying. Be sure to make notes of the words you don't know the meaning of - you will be amazed at his word choices once you look them up! Great teacher.
    4 people found this helpful
    Report
  • Reviewed in the United States on August 15, 2017
    This is a superb travel essay book. It deals with the undeveloped Caribbean just after WW II. Leigh Fermor's prose i strikingly evocative..
    One person found this helpful
    Report
  • Reviewed in the United States on April 22, 2017
    WHAT A GEM OF A RETRO TRAVEL BOOK. WILDLY POLITICALLY INCORRECT IN PLACES = WRITTEN IN ANOTHER ERA. ARMCHAIR TRAVEL THE WEST INDIES OF THE CARIBBEAN THE WAY THEY WERE BEFORE TOURISM.
    2 people found this helpful
    Report

Top reviews from other countries

  • Tony Early
    4.0 out of 5 stars Fermor in the Carribean
    Reviewed in Australia on September 4, 2021
    Paddy’s highly descriptive style is given full rein here and is only amplified in his subsequent works of my acquaintance.
  • Terry D
    5.0 out of 5 stars A brilliantly written story of a Caribbean island odyssey
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 26, 2013
    As I - and many other reviewers - have remarked Patrick Leigh Fermor had the enviable ability to write near-lyrical prose. But he went much further and, as an historian and a skilful observer of people, his books are always engrossing, entertaining and informative.

    In the preface to 'The Traveller's Tree' (written in the late 1940s) he cautions that it must not 'be mistaken for a guide to the Caribbean. It is nothing more than a personal, random account of an autumn and winter spent wandering through some of the islands ... its ultimate purpose, if it must be defined, is to retransmit to the reader whatever interest and enjoyment we encountered. In a word, to give pleasure.'

    It's an accurate caveat for a book that explores the vastly different religions, languages, history, culture, agriculture and geography of several of the Caribbean islands. Leigh Fermor's description of witnessing a day-long Voodoo festival, along with a brief foray into the (hopefully now defunct) practices and rites of cannibalism, is matched by an insightful summary of the slave trade and the effect it - together with the Spanish, French, and English privateers - had on the last 200 year's history of the various islands.

    Like all his other books it's an intriguing and highly enjoyable story.

    I must, however, admit to being somewhat amused by the convoluted sequence of his island hopping. As any map of the Caribbean will show, Guadeloupe to Dominica via Martinique isn't a particularly logical route. Particularly when followed - again in sequence - by Barbados, Trinidad, several of the Leeward Islands and then, finally to Haiti and Jamaica.

    Perhaps some of the cruise lines ought to to consider this as an itinerary?

    Read and enjoy. And, if you haven't already read A Time of Gifts - from the Hook of Holland to the Middle Danube and Between the Woods and the Water - from the Middle Danube to the Iron Gates, go treat yourself!
  • Kevin Fletcher
    4.0 out of 5 stars His prose is utterly delightful. It's like eating chocolate cake!
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 9, 2019
    I discovered Patrick Leigh Fermour's brilliant books around 10 years ago. His wonderful prose and attention to detail is second to none. This is his first ever book, written in the '50s, and though if it's age, the germ of his writing style is clearly there. ✔️
  • J G H
    5.0 out of 5 stars Don't visit the Caribbean without this book!
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 1, 2014
    Patrick Leigh Fermor's book, though written some sixty years ago, remains the unsurpassed prose masterpiece about the archipelago of islands that make up the Antilles. It describes in fascinating and erudite detail the peoples, the societies and the cultures that took over this region after Columbus 'discovered' it in 1492, and which still colour it today.
  • David Croughton
    5.0 out of 5 stars Joy
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 15, 2020
    Sheer joy and pleasure reading Paddys first book! A master.It has inspired me to read and learn more about the Caribbean

Report an issue


Does this item contain inappropriate content?
Do you believe that this item violates a copyright?
Does this item contain quality or formatting issues?