Cider with Rosie is a wonderfully vivid memoir of childhood in a remote Cotswold village, a village before electricity or cars, a timeless place on the verge of change. Growing up amongst the fields and woods and characters of the place, Laurie Lee depicts a world that is both immediate and real and belongs to a now-distant past.
‘Remains as fresh and full of joy and gratitude for youth and its sensations as when it first appeared. It sings in the memory’ Sunday Times
In As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning, the young Laurie Lee leaves his Cotswolds village and walks to London, where he makes a living labouring and playing the violin. Deciding to travel further afield, he heads for Spain, carrying only a blanket to sleep under and his trusty violin. Only the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War puts an end to his extraordinary journey.
‘He writes like an angel and conveys the pride and vitality of the humblest Spanish life with unfailing sharpness, zest and humour’ Sunday Times
Laurie Lee was still a young man when he decided to fight for the Republican cause in Spain’s civil war. Imprisoned and almost executed by his own side, he eventually joined the International Brigade. A Moment of War is the story of his experience fighting for the losing side in a doomed war.
‘A great, heart-stopping narrative of one young Englishman’s part in the war in Spain . . . crafted by a poet’ Literary Review
Andalusia is a passion – and fifteen years after his last visit Laurie Lee returned. He found a country broken by the Civil War, but the totems of indestructible Spain survive. A Rose for Winter is as sensual and evocative as the sun-scorched landscape of Andalusia itself.
When Laurie Lee first left his country village aged nineteen, he discovered a delight in the outside world that remained undiminished throughout his writing life. This enchanting collection of his ‘first loves and obsessions’ brings together pieces including recollections of his Gloucestershire childhood, reflections on life, love and death, and evocative travel writings. Together they capture a world that is lost forever.
This collection brings to life the sights, sounds, landscapes and traditions of Laurie Lee’s home – from centuries-old May Day rituals to his own patch of garden, from carol singing in crunching snow to pub conversations and songs. He writes about the mysteries of love, living in wartime Chelsea, Winston Churchill’s wintry funeral and his battle, in old age, to save his beloved Slad Valley from developers.
Told with a warm sense of humour and a powerful sense of history, Village Christmas brings us a picture of a vanished world.
‘I finished it with an ache in my heart and a tear in my eye’ Spectator
In this portrait of his Cotswold home, Laurie Lee guides us through its landscapes, and shares memories of his village youth – from his favourite pub to winter skating on the pond, the church through the seasons, local legends, learning the violin and playing jazz records in the privy on a wind-up gramophone. Filled with wry humour and a love of place, Down in the Valley is a writer’s tribute to the landscape that shaped him.
ESSENTIAL BIBLIOGRAPHY
For a very thorough bibliography of the works of Laurie Lee, please refer to Laurie Lee: A Bibliography by Stephen Oliver-Jones.