With a few hours to spare I indulged in scouring secondhand bookshops. At Slightly Foxed and Heywood Hill, I found three first editions: The Woman Who Was God by Francis King, The Haunt by A. L. Barker (both writers advocated by Rebecca West) and Between the Woods and the Water by Patrick Leigh Fermor.

A few hours later, I learnt of Leigh Fermor’s death. His travel books are outstanding examples of the genre. We shall see if there is a third volume, long promised, of his walk from Holland to Constantinople.