A Rose for Winter

An interesting book perhaps not what I would normally have read but that is the reason for the book club.
"A Rose for Winter" was one of Laurie Lee's early books and I personally feel it shows. The book is essentially a travelogue illustrated through very detailed and carefully crafted pictures painted in words.  It felt like a blind person who had suddenly discovered colours and wanted to use the entire palette at once and as such was a touch over powering.  I found at times I was reading the book for the words and not the picture, places and people he was describing.


The book is essentially a return to Spain after the civil war to revisit some of the towns he visited on his walk through the country when he was a younger man. As consequence I think I expected to read something of the aftermath of the war and the effects on the country but in fact I found virtually none.

Currently I am reading the prequel "As I walked out one Midsummer Morning" which was written much later and I do not get the same overpowering feeling, the palette has been toned down.

None the less "A Rose for Winter" was a good read but the prequel for me is proving it's superior.