The Book Depository A Rose For Winter by Laurie Lee
328 ratings
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Price: £8.99
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Description: A Rose For Winter : Paperback : Vintage Publishing : 9780099479710 : 0099479710 : 19 Feb 2003 : He found a country broken by the Civil War, but the totems of indestructible Spain survive: the Christ in agony, the thrilling flamenco cry-the pride in poverty, the gypsy intensity in vivid whitewashed slums, the cult of the bullfight, the exultation in death, the humour of hopelessness-the paradoxes deep in the fiery bones of Spain. The Book Depository A Rose For Winter by Laurie Lee - shop the best deal online on thebookbug.co.uk
Category: Books
Merchant: The Book Depository
Product ID: 9780099479710
MPN: 0099479710
GTIN: 9780099479710
Author: Bob
Rating: 5
Review: After Lee's second two books in his trilogy this is his journey with his wife to see how Spain has changed in the years since. Great writing.
Author: J. Scott-mandeville
Rating: 4
Review: In the 1950s Laurie Lee revisits Andalusia which he journeyed through in the 1930s, so eloquently described in his earlier book 'As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning'. Spain has changed, but not changed, under General Franco's dictatorship. This time, he is with his wife, Kati, and the shared journey offers a different dynamic to that earlier lone peregrination, one more lively and less contemplative, but still capturing essences and aura, the essential heart of Andalusian culture, in a way that few writers have done. Andalusia's character is more than flamenco and bull-fights (though Laurie Lee offers a fair share of these); it is deep, soulful, intense, historically complex, whose people have depths even Laurie Lee can only glimpse. But these glimpses are evocative and sensual, and revealing in details of shared meals with all the entrails of Spanish food, descriptions of beggar children, innkeepers and their families, religious ceremonies or feast days. Laurie Lee's language itself is passionate and full of smouldering adjectives that conjure the dark-eyed Andalusian spirits: "A few brown girls stood motionless by a fountain, unspeaking, stilled with secrets. A few dark men stole quietly through archways and disappeared into the profound gloom of shuttered patios. A few dark eyes watched us through the grilles of windows. And a solitary beggar girl, with huge dumb eyes, followed us slowly with a smile." This is not the Spain of tourists but of back alleys, cheap taverns, artisanal areas, poverty-stricken towns and humiliated fishing villages. In the chapter 'Castillo of the Sugar Canes', Laurie Lee's own, profound, dismay seeing the effects of the Spanish Civil War and the results of Franco's destruction and grinding down of the country and its people are vividly evoked. 'A Rose For Winter' could be a deeply depressing book, but Laurie Lee lightens the mood often enough to restore hope and joy. His description of his and Kati's carriage ride through the Maria-Luisa park in Seville is a delight, and the Christmas Eve feast in Granada, while shot through with tragedy, still resonates with mirth and festiveness. Laurie Lee writes as he finds: the tragedy of Spain, the pride and the passion, are all there, brought into sharp focus through Lee's erudite vocabulary. This book - as with the earlier volume - should be read by anyone loving Spain for its beauty, its stark contrasts, its wonderful history and heritage and wanting something different to the tourist trail. Andalusia could have no better proponent than Laurie Lee.
