When I told my brother how much I had enjoyed 'Cider with Rosie' by Laurie Lee, he very kindly got me the other two books in the trilogy with a warning that it might not be as cheery as the first one.
'As I walked out one midsummer morning' is the second book in the trilogy and begins with Laurie Lee leaving his home in Gloucestershire and walk towards London and eventually makes his way to Spain because he knew the Spanish for "Will you please give me a glass of water".
He describes a life that is hard to imagine today. Who would decide on a whim to go to another country and walk from place to place in that country, and when needed money would stand in a corner with a hat and play the violin. People drop in pennies, enough for a meal, enough for a drink, enough for boarding, enough for a day.
The Spain he describs is on the verge of civil war and to it he returns in December 1937 to participate in it as part of the International Brigade- a motley crowd of Republicans. This brief foray into the war is what he describes in the last of the books " A moment of war." If going to Spain because he knew one phrase was flimsy, then returning back to the country to participate in the war was based on just a whim. He had fallen in love and he wanted to show her...the reason for returning back to Spain to the war is not very clear. He crosses over to Spain from France and is immediately arrested by the Republican Army because they suspect he is a spy for General Franco. He escapes narrowly from being executed. There are no heroics. There are no battles. He is eventually asked to leave in January 1938.
The writing, the imagery that he evokes is voluptuous. The description of a country at war was heart-rending. General Franco, in a bid to subdue the entire country to his will, enlists the help of the German war planes to drop bombs on his countrymen. Hitler is only too happy to oblige. He uses Spain to test how to use war planes to drop bombs on a city. The cold-bloodiness shook me.
'As I walked out one midsummer morning' is the second book in the trilogy and begins with Laurie Lee leaving his home in Gloucestershire and walk towards London and eventually makes his way to Spain because he knew the Spanish for "Will you please give me a glass of water".
He describes a life that is hard to imagine today. Who would decide on a whim to go to another country and walk from place to place in that country, and when needed money would stand in a corner with a hat and play the violin. People drop in pennies, enough for a meal, enough for a drink, enough for boarding, enough for a day.
The Spain he describs is on the verge of civil war and to it he returns in December 1937 to participate in it as part of the International Brigade- a motley crowd of Republicans. This brief foray into the war is what he describes in the last of the books " A moment of war." If going to Spain because he knew one phrase was flimsy, then returning back to the country to participate in the war was based on just a whim. He had fallen in love and he wanted to show her...the reason for returning back to Spain to the war is not very clear. He crosses over to Spain from France and is immediately arrested by the Republican Army because they suspect he is a spy for General Franco. He escapes narrowly from being executed. There are no heroics. There are no battles. He is eventually asked to leave in January 1938.
The writing, the imagery that he evokes is voluptuous. The description of a country at war was heart-rending. General Franco, in a bid to subdue the entire country to his will, enlists the help of the German war planes to drop bombs on his countrymen. Hitler is only too happy to oblige. He uses Spain to test how to use war planes to drop bombs on a city. The cold-bloodiness shook me.
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