Those who know the author as a man of action and a travel writer of distinction will find here a different kind of journey but with the same fine art of description and reflection, for it is a graphic account of his travels to the Benedictine abbey of St Wandrille, the abbey of Solesmes, the Cistercian monastery of La Grande Trappe, and the rock monasteries of Cappadocia. Patrick Leigh Fermor includes his thoughts on the benefit of occasional retreat into the discipline and calm of the cloister.