A review of Driving Over Lemons
Created | Updated Jan 28, 2002
Driving Over Lemons : An optimist in Andalucía
Chris Stewart
Sort of Books, 1999
£6.99
When I was a kid, I loved watching The Good Life. Which probably goes a long way to explaining why I read 'Driving Over Lemons' twice in a fortnight. And bought my own copy so that I can give my parents theirs back.
This is the story of an Englishman and his wife who buy a dilapidated old farm in the Alpujarra mountains near Granada, and forge a new life there. It starts with Chris buying the farm from the Spanish owner. Who doesn't leave: he stays there all summer while the new owners "settle in". Cosy. The grumpy old peasant does finally pack up and leave, and at this point Chris and Ana can finally start calling El Valero home.
A narrative built around a series of anecdotes, this book is very easy to read and much harder to put down. We're flies on the wall as Chris and Ana attempt to raise poultry and fail, build bridges, rebuild their house, and revolutionise Alpujarran sheep shearing.
One of my favourite parts comes as they get round to rehabilitating the scrappy cats they inherited:
"Elfie continued to thrive, and when she wasn't dozing she became, indeed, a great ratter. Or at least we think she did. The presence of rats and mice had been evidenced by their turds, little black pellets dotted about all over the house and terrace. Soon they disappeared altogether, which led us to one of two conclusions; either she was killing rats and mice very effectively or she was eating their turds."
The later sections of the book deal quite touchingly with their ever-more-friendly relations with their nearest neighbour Domingo, and the arrival in their lives of daughter Chloë. Chloë endears herself to both man and beasts, and by the age of three is happily reciting the Latin names of the wild flowers of the area.
My only complaint about this book is that it ends too soon and too suddenly. With Chloë safely christened and packed off to school, and the harvest safely gathered in, we are left wondering what this amazing family will get up to next.
Chris Stewart
Sort of Books, 1999
£6.99
When I was a kid, I loved watching The Good Life. Which probably goes a long way to explaining why I read 'Driving Over Lemons' twice in a fortnight. And bought my own copy so that I can give my parents theirs back.
This is the story of an Englishman and his wife who buy a dilapidated old farm in the Alpujarra mountains near Granada, and forge a new life there. It starts with Chris buying the farm from the Spanish owner. Who doesn't leave: he stays there all summer while the new owners "settle in". Cosy. The grumpy old peasant does finally pack up and leave, and at this point Chris and Ana can finally start calling El Valero home.
A narrative built around a series of anecdotes, this book is very easy to read and much harder to put down. We're flies on the wall as Chris and Ana attempt to raise poultry and fail, build bridges, rebuild their house, and revolutionise Alpujarran sheep shearing.
One of my favourite parts comes as they get round to rehabilitating the scrappy cats they inherited:
"Elfie continued to thrive, and when she wasn't dozing she became, indeed, a great ratter. Or at least we think she did. The presence of rats and mice had been evidenced by their turds, little black pellets dotted about all over the house and terrace. Soon they disappeared altogether, which led us to one of two conclusions; either she was killing rats and mice very effectively or she was eating their turds."
The later sections of the book deal quite touchingly with their ever-more-friendly relations with their nearest neighbour Domingo, and the arrival in their lives of daughter Chloë. Chloë endears herself to both man and beasts, and by the age of three is happily reciting the Latin names of the wild flowers of the area.
My only complaint about this book is that it ends too soon and too suddenly. With Chloë safely christened and packed off to school, and the harvest safely gathered in, we are left wondering what this amazing family will get up to next.
