Do You like book Red Sky At Sunrise: Cider With Rosie; As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning; A Moment Of War (1993)?
Laurie Lee came from the Stroud valleys, not so very far from where I grew up. His Cotswold childhood happened back when cars were still a rareity, when the world was a far less industrial place. There's a nostalgia for the past here, for lost innocence. The writing is beautiful. There are sorrows and hard times as well though, its not jsut a rose tinted view of a rural youth.'As I walked out' takes Lee across Spain, walking and busking. This section of his life really caught my imagination, although I've never had the nerve to do anything like it, it's fuelled my daydreaming for many years. More evocative prose, and a great adventure.A Moment of War - as Spain plunged into civil war, Lee felt obliged to go back and participate. what follows is dark, insane and deeply disturbing, a haunting recollection of a terrible conflict.Having all three books in one volume is a great asset. They're wildly different in character, and all very good reads. Cider with Rosie might be the most famous, but I feel the other two are far stronger books, much more adult and provocative.Laurie Lee was also a poet, so if you enjoy these you might want to look out his other work.
—Bryn
