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As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning: A Memoir (The Autobiographical Trilogy Book 2) Kindle Edition

by Laurie Lee (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

4.4 3,061 ratings

Book 2 of 3: The Autobiographical Trilogy

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The author of Cider with Rosie continues his bestselling autobiographical trilogy with “a wondrous adventure” through Spain on the eve of its civil war (Library Journal).

On a bright Sunday morning in June 1934, Laurie Lee left the village home so lovingly portrayed in his bestselling memoir, Cider with Rosie. His plan was to walk the hundred miles from Slad to London, with a detour of an extra hundred miles to see the sea for the first time. He was nineteen years old and brought with him only what he could carry on his back: a tent, a change of clothes, his violin, a tin of biscuits, and some cheese. He spent the first night in a ditch, wide awake and soaking wet.

From those unlikely beginnings, Laurie Lee fashioned not just the adventure of a lifetime, but one of the finest travel narratives of the twentieth century. As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning, written more than thirty years after the events it describes, is an elegant and irresistibly charming portrait of life on the road—first in England, where the familiar landscapes and people somehow made Lee feel far from home, and then in Spain, whose utter foreignness afforded a new kind of comfort.

In that brief period of peace, a young man was free to go wherever he wanted to in Europe. Lee picked Spain because he knew enough Spanish to ask for a glass of water. What he did not know, and what would become clear only after a year spent tramping across the beautiful and rugged countryside—from the Galician port city of Vigo, over the Sierra de Guadarrama and into Madrid, and along the Costa del Sol—was that the Spanish Republic would soon need idealistic young men like Lee as badly as he needed it.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Originally published in 1969, Lee's charming account of his travels in Spain in 1935 became almost as popular as his delightful Cider with Rosie. This fussily illustrated edition is an insult to an enjoyable prose work by a distinguished poet. Rather than eliciting the Spain that Lee visited, these old-fashioned illustrations from a variety of sources detract from a text that is rendered unreadable by a 34-pica measure, surmounted by running headlines (finically set in caps and italic initial caps), topped by a double line that serves as "walking" surface for a little man with stick (presumably representing the author) who promenades remorselessly across the page, pica by pica, as the reader progresses with the story. Each color illustration is surrounded by a white mat-like area enclosed, in turn, by a triple-rule frame set against a tan backgrounda tacky effect. The paperback reprint of the original edition is available for those who prefer unencumbered reading. October 28
Copyright 1985 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Twenty years before Jack Kerouac set off On the Road, Lee (A Moment of War, Audio Reviews, LJ 3/15/94) left the safety of his rural English home and embarked on a wondrous adventure. Supporting himself by playing the violin, the 20-year-old Lee made his way to London and then to Spain, where he spent a year wandering across the countryside on foot. Eventually Lee encountered the undercurrents of civil war and found himself hopelessly entangled. Using the highly polished wordsmithing tools he has developed as a poet, Lee masterfully evokes the ambience and tension of Europe on the eve of World War II. Lee's narration is like curling up on one's grandfather's lap and listening to stories of being attacked by wolves, hounded by the police, romanced by idealism, and seduced by beauty. This work is a fine nonfiction complement to Ernest Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls. Highly recommended.
Ray Vignovich, West Des Moines P.L., Ia.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

Praise for As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning

"Twenty years before Jack Kerouac set off On the Road, Lee left the safety of his rural English home and embarked on a wondrous adventure…Lee masterfully evokes the ambiance and tension of Europe on the eve of World War II. Lee’s narration is like curling up on one’s grandfather’s lap and listening to stories of being attacked by wolves, hounded by the police, romanced by idealism, and seduced by beauty. This is a fine nonfiction complement to Ernest Hemingway’s For Whom the Bell Tolls. Highly recommended."―Library Journal

"The new edition is a welcome addition to the memoir genre, especially for those who’ve never discovered Lee before. His gentle descriptions of seeing the world in a new way, and transforming his life as a result, will ring true for anyone who’s stood in a foreign landscape, and felt a great gust of cool air through the mind because of it."―Foreword Reviews

"He writes like an angel, and conveys the pride and vitality of the humblest Spanish life with unfailing sharpness, zest and humor."―The Sunday Times (UK)

"As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning offers a new edition of Laurie Lee’s classic account of involvement in the Spanish Civil War, offering an unexpected blend of humor, coming of age, and social observation. It’s a sequel to his Cider with Rosie but stands well alone as a fine memoir observing Europe on the brink of World War II, and is a top recommendation for both its social observation and its lyrical, literary prose."―Midwest Book Review

About the Author

Laurie Lee has written some of the best-loved travel books in the English language. Born in Stroud, Gloucestershire, in 1914, he was educated at Slad village school and Stroud Central School. At the age of nineteen he walked to London and then travelled on foot through Spain, where he was trapped by the outbreak of the Civil War. He later returned by crossing the Pyrenees, as he recounted in A Moment of War. Laurie Lee published four collections of poems: The Sun My Monument (1944), The Bloom of Candles (1947), My Many-Coated Man (1955) and Pocket Poems (1960). His other works include The Voyage of Magellan (1948), The Firstborn (1964), I Can't Stay Long (1975), and Two Women (1983). He also wrote three bestselling volumes of autobiography: Cider with Rosie (1959), which has sold over six million copies worldwide, As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning (1969) and A Moment of War (1991).

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00KGMIY1Y
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Open Road Media (June 10, 2014)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ June 10, 2014
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 2941 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 196 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #617,537 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #75 in Historical Spain & Portugal Biographies
- #191 in History eBooks of Spain & Portugal
- #805 in Travel Writing

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4.4 3,061 ratings

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PadmaPriya

Breathtaking Prose

Reviewed in the United States on May 27, 2013

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This has got to be one of the most evocative memoirs ever written; it certainly tops all the other road-trip/travelers tales I've read. As befits an award winning poet, Lee's prose has a concise, 3-D image making eloquence that drops the reader into the center of a scene, in the breathing presence of a character, or into the tactile truth of a landscape.

In the mid-1930s, the nineteen year-old Lee sets out on foot from his Gloucestershire home, with a tin of biscuits and a violin, on his way to London via a hundred mile detour to coast "as I'd never yet seen the sea." Two years later he is fortuitously "rescued" off the coast of southern Spain by the Royal Navy trawling the Spanish beaches for stray Brits marooned between the warring factions of the Spanish Civil War. Lee's narrative of what happens in between these events provides priceless images of life as experienced by a penniless wanderer in depression-era Britain and pre-modern Spain.

Few histories of an era or place can conjure its emotional and physical resonance quite so well as a living memory. In his description of life on the road to London, Lee is able to capture the essence of the failure of capitalism during the Thirties (our current failure being but an echo of it's father).

Spoiler Alert...quotations from the book:

Lee finds himself among the "host of unemployed who wandered aimlessly about England at that time...They were like a broken army walking away from war, cheeks sunken, eyes dead with fatigue. Some carried bags of tools or broken cardboard suitcases; some wore the ghosts of city suits...walking up and down the country in a maze of jobless refusals.." Among them are professional tramps, like Alf, who taught him the ways of the road. "He wore a deerstalker hat, so sodden and shredded it looked like a helping of breakfast food...a tramp to his bones, always wrapping and unwrapping himself, and picking over his bits and pieces...never passing a bit of grass that looked good for a shakedown nor a cottage that seemed ripe for charity."

Soon after he parts from Alf on the outskirts of Ascot, the other half of society rolls into view: "I wasn't surprised when one of the Daimlers pulled up and an arm beckoned me from the window..."Want a pheasant my man?" asked a voice from inside. "We just knocked over a beauty a hundred yards back." A quarter of an hour later I arrived at Ascot. It was race week...little grooms and jockeys dodging among the long glossy legs of thoroughbreds; and the pedigree owners dipping their long cool necks into baskets of pate and gull's eggs...Alf and the tattered lines of the workless were far away in another country..."

Plus ça change, eh?

3 people found this helpful

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Turkles

On the Spanish Road

Reviewed in the United States on October 10, 2016

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I've read a lot of travel books about people like Lee, who set off on their own to "see the world". What piqued my interest in this particular diary, however, was it's connection to the beginning, at least, of the Spanish Civil War. I grew up in the 30''s, and well remember this precursor to WW II, and the fateful & terrible events to follow. It also provides many stark descriptions, which I think most of us have either forgot... or never been aware of...the conditions of extreme poverty that existed in pre-WW II Europe, and are still extant in the third world. A more than worth-while read..

6 people found this helpful

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CarlK

My first literary discovery

Reviewed in the United States on January 14, 2012

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Newly arrived in London at 16 years of age browsing a bookstore came across this volume, had read snippets of "Cider with Rosie" and some of Lee's poetry at school. At 16 it was gratifying enough to come across an author I knew, outside of a Marvel comic, let alone be interested in the subject. About to embark on a road trip to what turned out to be 3 years living in Spain this was my sort of book.
I read this book inside out for 3 years,at such a pivotal age (& time) in my life this book made everything seem possible, it implanted some valuable life lessons.
Since Lee's death there has been criticsm of his work and the sourcing of some material, not something I personally buy into as it serves little purpose. Re- read the book recently and it read a different story to me as an almost 50- something, but no less compelling.
Laurie Lee does not have a large body of work I hope it does not get lost in the dust of time, read it now!

2 people found this helpful

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William VanZevern

Walk along with a remarkable young man as he adventure in Spain in the 1930's

Reviewed in the United States on August 26, 2014

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It is a fact that there is a whole legion of walkers in the world and always has been. There perhaps are many like Laurie Lee and Paul Theroux who have walked to other lands but few of those have the gift of observation that sees things as they are and can write their opinion about it. Lee wrote in the last century- Theroux decades ago. In their reading it is clear they both truly liked about their adventures, the things they saw, and the people they met.
Lee in his description of those two was most informative and entertaining; a gift to the 19year old novice walker that he was. The physical strength and endurance dictated by his route as well as his cleverness in finding the means to fit in and survive with the peasants of the many parts of Spain in the late 1930’s as he traveled, is what amazed me. It is well worth the read; a fine well written adventure.

4 people found this helpful

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Vicriver

Travelogue on walking England and Spain

Reviewed in the United States on September 11, 2020

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This was an entertaining and interesting book with vivid descriptions of England and Spain in the 1930’s.
Travelling by foot with minimal possessions and a large language barrier in Spain he gives a snapshot of the country on the brink of civil war.

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Molly

Fast, enjoyable yet somewhat disturbing read.

Reviewed in the United States on September 3, 2017

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Written in bursts of poetic description, this book is a fast, enjoyable yet somewhat disturbing read. I am traveling to Spain next month to busk on the streets with my kids and husband so the descriptions of Spain and especially of his experience busking on the streets there intrigued me. The author's observations seem insightful and believable, but I never grew to trust in the honor of his character when it came to women. For me, his almost nightly drunkeness, his staring at the breasts of the daughter of his host for one night, his describing young girls as "sexily confident", his visit to the brothel, his lusting after women, his describing so many things in the natural world as voluptuous,and his inaction when a mother told him the man before him had just committed incest on his own daughter made me feel uneasy about his attitudes of women. He also describes a quite seedy side of Spain. That being said, I enjoyed his sense of adventure and found his writing style potent, succinct and very poetic. Some of his lines are among the best that I've read. Very mixed, but ultimately I would recommend the book if you can deal with the downsides I mentioned. The last chapter and a half about the start of the Spanish Civil War were absolute page-turners.

28 people found this helpful

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Lmana

Visión histórica

Reviewed in Spain on March 12, 2023

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Una interesante visión histórica de España en los años 30.

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Mr. F. A. Driver

A beautiful and fascinating snapshot of a 1930's Europe on the brink of great change

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 2, 2021

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I loved this book. I've read an awful lot of books in my time and this is undoubtedly one of the best. A literary classic that I have been aware of for years but never got round to until inspired by the recent TV program Write around the world. Laurie Lee is best known for his novel Cider with Rosie. I haven't read that yet but if it's half as good as this it will be worth reading. This book recounts the story of his solo journey from his childhood home in the Cotswolds to the southern tip of Spain, at the age of 19. Laurie does this all on foot, with the exception of the boat crossing from London to Vigo on the north west Spanish coast. The first forty pages recount his journey across the home counties into London, and the six months he spent there. Some of the detail here and the quality of Lee's writing, reveals a fascinating view of England in the mid 1930's, but ultimately leaves you wanting more. He teases with his memories and countless tantalising observations, that hint at so much more. Forty pages is clearly not enough, but understandable as this was written 35 years after the event. Little is revealed of his crossing and Laurie is soon setting out to cross Spain, with not much more than an old violin which he uses to earn a meagre living. The next 140 pages are a beautifully written love letter to a country that was on the verge of irreversible change. Lee spent a year crossing Spain, with much adventure along the way. The way he writes, and the things he describes take the reader back to a place and time that is long gone. Evocative just doesn't quite capture the magic of this 'travelogue'. The quality of writing is superb and, though it is said of so many books, this genuinely is 'a page turner'. Leaves you wanting more.

3 people found this helpful

Sabrina

Top Reisebericht

Reviewed in Germany on January 21, 2021

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Eins meiner Lieblingsbücher! Lebendig und kraftvoll geschrieben, ohne Romantisierung der damaligen Verhältnisse.

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Cornelia McWilliams

Great travel/hiking book

Reviewed in Canada on September 8, 2018

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A great read for people who are interested in hiking long distances in foreign countries or at home. Well written by a great travel writer.

One person found this helpful

gussie_fink_nottle

A classic that has aged well. For anyone interested ...

Reviewed in India on September 22, 2017

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A classic that has aged well. For anyone interested in Spanish Civil War history, this, along with its sequel A Moment of War are superbly written and entertaining companion pieces to Orwell's Homage to Catalonia and Ken Loach's film Land and Freedom. Travel writing of the highest order.

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As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning: A Memoir (The Autobiographical Trilogy Book 2) Kindle Edition

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