It was 1934 and a young man walked to London from the security of the Cotswolds to make his fortune. He was to live by playing the violin and by labouring on a London building site. Then, knowing one Spanish phrase, he decided to see Spain. For a year he tramped through a country in which the signs of impending civil war were clearly visible. Thirty years later Laurie Lee captured the atmosphere of the Spain he saw with all the freshness and beauty of a young man's vision, creating a lyrical and lucid picture of the beautiful and violent country that was to involve him inextricably.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can use your mobile to trade in your unwanted books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details or check out the Trade-In Amazon Mobile App Guidelines on how to trade in using a smartphone. Learn more. |
Book Description
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Authors
Discover books, learn about writers, and more.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
35 of 35 people found the following review helpful
By Ross Tulloch
Format:Paperback
What a marvellous book.
On the face of it a simple coming of age story, that of a young man leaving home to walk around Spain. A very layman's view of it, as this however is written for the poet inside us. Wonderful language for a long lost age where you really could abandon yourself completely and travel in its purest sense.
Beware though as this book may make you want to give it all up and set off with your knapsack
On the face of it a simple coming of age story, that of a young man leaving home to walk around Spain. A very layman's view of it, as this however is written for the poet inside us. Wonderful language for a long lost age where you really could abandon yourself completely and travel in its purest sense.
Beware though as this book may make you want to give it all up and set off with your knapsack
22 of 22 people found the following review helpful
By Donald
Format:Paperback
It's not often that a story grabs your attention straight away like this one did with me. On the face of it, a simple story about a young man setting off to find his fortune in a foreign land, the book has so much more. It's about youth and idealism, friendship, life on the road and the desire to just keep moving until you stop. And even though he obviously wrote it many years after making the trip (the emotions running through the tale are those of middle age not late teens), it hardly matters. Quite brilliant. Just like the 'sequel' A Rose for Winter.
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
By M. J. Taylor
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I read this book in the first half of the 1970's. I have often thought of it since and am delighted to have at last found the means to purchase a copy and read it all over again. I probably do not recall any of the text but 40 years later I still feel the way it touched me.
An earlier reviewer wrote "beware, it may make you get up and leave",. That's very true, I did ... what a book!
An earlier reviewer wrote "beware, it may make you get up and leave",. That's very true, I did ... what a book!
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning (1969) is an autobiographical account of an epic journey around Spain in the nineteen thirties.
It is 1934 and Laurie Lee, the author, is a young man. He leaves the security of his Cotswold home to embark on an adventure.
Initially he travels to London and ekes out an existence by playing the violin and by labouring on a London building site. He decides to go to Spain. It seems a rash decision because the young lad's choice of destination is based on the fact that he knows a phrase of Spanish - "¿Puede por favor dame un vaso de agua?" - "Will you please give me a glass of water?"
For a year, he tramps through Spain, from Vigo in the north to Almuñécar on the south coast. During this voyage, he experiences a country that ranges from utter desolation to extreme beauty. He manages to eat by a earning a few pesetas playing his violin. He sleeps at night in his blanket under an open sky or in a cheap, rough posada though occasionally he is rewarded with the warm and generous hospitality of poor village people that he meets along the way.
Laurie Lee provides the reader with a vivid account of life in Spain during the bleak years leading up to the Spanish Civil War. I enjoy reading travel books, especially those about Spain. "As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning" is as good as any I have read even though many of the places he visits - Vigo, Valladolid, Cádiz, Tarifa - are described as squalid, dark, decrepit, acrid, and scruffy. Even Seville is both "dazzling and squalid" according to the author. He does praise some of the places he visits- Toro, Segovia, Toledo - who wouldn't! Read more ›
It is 1934 and Laurie Lee, the author, is a young man. He leaves the security of his Cotswold home to embark on an adventure.
Initially he travels to London and ekes out an existence by playing the violin and by labouring on a London building site. He decides to go to Spain. It seems a rash decision because the young lad's choice of destination is based on the fact that he knows a phrase of Spanish - "¿Puede por favor dame un vaso de agua?" - "Will you please give me a glass of water?"
For a year, he tramps through Spain, from Vigo in the north to Almuñécar on the south coast. During this voyage, he experiences a country that ranges from utter desolation to extreme beauty. He manages to eat by a earning a few pesetas playing his violin. He sleeps at night in his blanket under an open sky or in a cheap, rough posada though occasionally he is rewarded with the warm and generous hospitality of poor village people that he meets along the way.
Laurie Lee provides the reader with a vivid account of life in Spain during the bleak years leading up to the Spanish Civil War. I enjoy reading travel books, especially those about Spain. "As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning" is as good as any I have read even though many of the places he visits - Vigo, Valladolid, Cádiz, Tarifa - are described as squalid, dark, decrepit, acrid, and scruffy. Even Seville is both "dazzling and squalid" according to the author. He does praise some of the places he visits- Toro, Segovia, Toledo - who wouldn't! Read more ›
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
A fascinating journey through a now-vanished world. Spain, when Laurie Lee walked its length, was almost mediaeval in parts.
He's a wonderful, lyrical storyteller and (like all the best travel writers) has a love of people and places. The combination makes for a stunning book.
Anyone who knows modern Spain, particularly the Costa del Sol and Andalusia, will find the book amazing. Fuengirola is a small fishing village.
It brings home how much the world has changed in 50 years. I'm also filled with admiration for the bravery of a young man, who spoke no Spanish, but who caught a ship and went exploring.
He's a wonderful, lyrical storyteller and (like all the best travel writers) has a love of people and places. The combination makes for a stunning book.
Anyone who knows modern Spain, particularly the Costa del Sol and Andalusia, will find the book amazing. Fuengirola is a small fishing village.
It brings home how much the world has changed in 50 years. I'm also filled with admiration for the bravery of a young man, who spoke no Spanish, but who caught a ship and went exploring.
15 of 16 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
I am in comlete agreement with the previous reviews. This may be my favourite book of all time (Homage To Catalonia by George Orwell is also of a similar content and standard.) After reading this book I too was struck by the sheer bravery of a young 19 year-old from the Cotswolds who upped himself and explored a then very foreign land.
It was one of my dreams to have met the great man, however he passed away quietly in Leeds approximately 4 years or so ago.
His legacy will live on in 2 of the most beautiful books that I have ever had the pleasure to read.
Buy It !
It was one of my dreams to have met the great man, however he passed away quietly in Leeds approximately 4 years or so ago.
His legacy will live on in 2 of the most beautiful books that I have ever had the pleasure to read.
Buy It !
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful
By No Monarch
Format:Paperback
I first read this book about 12 years ago and have read it every couple of years or so since, it is wonderful and really allows you to live the journey that Laurie Lee took all those years ago when the world was a very different place.
As a previous reviewer has stated there is no in depth analysis of what is happening at this important time in European history just a country boy commenting on what he saw and experienced.
This is a wonderful book and one that I will read many more times yet..
As a previous reviewer has stated there is no in depth analysis of what is happening at this important time in European history just a country boy commenting on what he saw and experienced.
This is a wonderful book and one that I will read many more times yet..
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
its been many years since i read this book and just wish to agree with the above reviewer. This is a fantastic book, full of humour and evocative storytelling. I prefer this by far to Cider with Rosie, Lee's better known work.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
›
Go to Amazon.com to see all 16 reviews
4.9 out of 5 stars
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Thoroughly enjoyed this book.
I found this book very different to those I normally read. It is not a romance or dectective novel but simply the story of a young man who left his home in the Cotswolds in 1934... Read more
Published 13 days ago by Genny
5.0 out of 5 stars
Book
Really enjoyed reading this book, it made me feel like getting up and going out travelling myself. Spain is one of my favourite places so I guess it meant so much more to me.
Published 15 days ago by misty
5.0 out of 5 stars
Favourite
Without doubt, my favourite travel book. With hardly a word of Spanish in his vocabulary, Lee takes a boat to Vigo and sets off on foot across the country. Read more
Published 23 days ago by High Seas Drifter
5.0 out of 5 stars
Very good.
Hugely enjoyable book, and descriptive of a world, sadly, largely vanished. Great book for the adventurous, indeed it could spark an adventure! Read more
Published 26 days ago by hammerman
1.0 out of 5 stars
I wonder what it's like?
I'd like to review this book but unfortunately the type is so tiny I can't read it, hence just one star, for the publishing rather than the book's content. Read more
Published 1 month ago by cattango
5.0 out of 5 stars
A book to read when you are feeling low
Book arrived in expected condition and on time. Would recommend this to read when you are feeling a bit down. It is a follow up to Cider with Rosie.
Published 1 month ago by elibee
5.0 out of 5 stars
absolutely brilliant
I have just read Laurie Lee's Cider with Rosie and this is an excellent follow on. A tour of old Spain
Published 4 months ago by Mr. Roy Bolland
5.0 out of 5 stars
As I walked out One Midsummer Morning.
A beautiful book. Brilliantly written with the addition of excellent illustrations. Laurie Lee at his best. I'll be reading it again.
Published 4 months ago by david horn
5.0 out of 5 stars
What a surprise
I hadn't read Laurie Lee since I was a child and had forgotten what a good read his books are. I loved the descriptions in this book, both of people and surroundings. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Diane
3.0 out of 5 stars
Pleasant baloney
It's a pleasant diverting read but let's not lose sight of the fact that Laurie Lee could always be - how you say - economical with the truth. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Nick the Shaker
Look for similar items by category
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
