Laurie Lee Knihy

Román anglického básníka a prozaika provází čtenáře krajinou jeho dětství, malebným údolím v jihozápadní Anglii, ve 20. letech 20. století. V jednotlivých epizodách vypráví autor všechny veselé i hrůzostrašné příběhy, jimiž v té době vesnice žila a čistýma dětskýma očima kradmo nahlíží do záhadného světa dospělých. S jeho dětstvím zmizel ve 20. letech i svérázný anglický venkov, jehož idyličnost, poklid a tradiční způsob života násilně přerušila 1. světová válka. Autor do svých autobiografických vzpomínek vtělil řadu detailů zmizelého vesnického prostředí, které se mu podařilo čtenáři přiblížit neotřelým dětským pohledem se nepatetickou dávkou dospělé nostalgie.

Spanning the first twenty-three years of his remarkable life, Laurie Lee's celebrated autobiographical trilogy is presented here in one delightful volume. Beginning with Cider with Rosie, Laurie Lee writes evocatively of his idyllic childhood in the Cotswolds of the twenties, a world of rich sensuousness and native innocence. 'As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning' picks up the story as he leaves his valley for London and then for Spain. There, equipped only with a violin and his wits, he crossed the dramatic landscape of a vibrant and still almost medieval Spain for which he developed an abiding affection. In the winter of 1937 he returned to a country now in the grip of Civil War and joined the International Brigade, describing in A Moment of War his journey into the dark side of Spain with unsparing honesty and poignancy.

When Laurie Lee set out on foot from his home in the Gloucestershire village of Slad one midsummer morning in 1935 he was 19 and off to see the world with only his violin for company. So began a year of wandering that eventually took him from the North to the South of Spain, a country in which life had barely changed since the Middle Ages but which was now on the brink of a bitter civil war. The adventure that began as a romantic dream ended somewhat ignominiously, but it inspired Lee to produce this brilliant and darkly haunting account of a vanished Spain, and return to fight on the Republican side not long after. Illustrated by Leonard Rosoman. ‘There’s a formidable, instant charm in the writing that genuinely makes it difficult to put the book down.’ New Statesman ‘A beautiful piece of writing.’ Observer ‘He writes like an angel and conveys the pride and vitality of the humblest Spanish life with unfailing sharpness, zest and humour.’ Sunday Times

A re-issue of the evocative and nostalgic account of Lee's country childhood in a secluded Cotswold valley. Lee describes a vanished rural world of village schools and church outings but also touches on the darker side of village life as it comes into contact with murder, rape, suicide and depression.

Village Christmas is a moving, lyrical portrait of England through the changing years and seasons. Laurie Lee left his childhood home in the Cotswolds when he was nineteen, but it remained with him throughout his life until, many years later, he returned for good. This collection brings to life the sights, sounds, landscapes and traditions of his home - from centuries-old May Day rituals to his own patch of garden, from carol singing in crunching snow to pub conversations and songs. Here too 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

'If ever I saw blessing in the air I see it now in this still early day...' Laurie Lee is beloved for his writing on a lost rural world. His Collected Poems open a new window on this community, as Lee tracks the seasons changing and the years turning over. Written from the 1930s to the 1960s, these heady works find the poet grappling with war, love, travel and his awe in the nature surrounding him. In 'Music in a Spanish Town', we see Lee playing his fiddle in in 1936; in 'April Rise', ecstatic in the Slad valley springtime; or in 'Twelfth Night', digging for faith in the depths of winter. Brought together in one volume for the first time, and including previously unseen material, these timeless verses reveal Laurie Lee finding a newly intimate voice as a poet.

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: 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. Rich with kaleidoscopic images, "A Rose for Winter" is as sensual and evocative as the sun-scorched landscape of Andalusia itself.

A New York Times Notable Book of the Year, the autobiography of a young Englishman in the Spanish Civil War.

'Living in our valley was like broad beans in a pod, so snug and enclosed and protective.' Laurie Lee left his childhood home in the Cotswolds when he was nineteen, but it remained with him throughout his life, until, many years later, he returned for good. In this never before published collection, Laurie Lee guides us through his home landscape around Slad in Gloucestershire, and the memories of his youth there. Down in the Valley bring to life the sights, sounds and traditions of his home - from his favourite pub, The Woolpack, summer bathing and winter skating on the village pond, the church through the seasons, learning the violin and playing jazz records in the privy on a wind-up gramophone. Told with a warm sense of humour and a powerful sense of history, Down in the Valley brings us a picture of a vanished world.