{"product_id":"zen-and-the-art-of-robert-crisp-9781448215232","title":"Zen and the Art of Donkey Maintenance","description":"\u003ci\u003eI looked again at the folded map of Europe in my hand. Then I crossed the road to the Continental booking office and bought a ticket for Salzburg in Austria. \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e \"Return?+? asked the clerk.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e \"Definitely not, +? I told him. \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eIn December 1966, the New Year looked exciting for fifty-five-year-old Robert Crisp. As a man whose youth was spent in constant adventure, leading a calm, domestic life in England had become a burden from which he needed to break free. Named by \u003ci\u003eWisden\u003c\/i\u003e as \"One of the most extraordinary men ever to play Test cricket,\" Crisp served as a soldier in the Second World War in Greece and North Africa for which he was decorated for bravery, later becoming a writer and journalist.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eWith his marriage over and his sons old enough to fend for themselves, Crisp decided to start a new life. With sixty pounds in his pocket, his wartime disability pension of ten pounds a month, and a plan to write about his adventures under a pseudonym, his journey began. Through twenty columns filed from abroad over years of rustic living and travel, Crisp, as Peter White, shared his experiences of hitch-hiking through Yugoslavia, settling in a beach shack in Greece where he attempted to cultivate the stubborn land, and a nearly fatal solo boat trip around Corfu. As the first year of his dream life came to a close, he found out that the stomach pain he had been suffering was not a side effect of too much Greek wine, but cancer. With a prediction of only one year to live, he set off on a trek around Crete, his only companion a donkey with plenty of personality.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eRobert Crisp's account of his travels, originally serialised in the \u003ci\u003eSunday Express\u003c\/i\u003e, is an honest, funny, touching account of this charming rogue's journey through a foreign land and culture in search of inner peace and happiness.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Robert Crisp\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1448215234\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781448215232\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Bloomsbury Publishing PLC\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 09\/08\/2015\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 228\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.79lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.21h x 6.14w x 0.53d","brand":"Robert Crisp","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":43935846334719,"sku":"9781448215232","price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/products\/img_f0dbcf2f-8516-49c8-be88-f9a289fcfa59.jpg?v=1681422167","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/zen-and-the-art-of-robert-crisp-9781448215232","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}