Laurie Lee | Author | LibraryThing

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Common Knowledge

Legal name: Lee, Laurence Edward Alan
Birthdate: 1914-06-26
Date of death: 1997-05-13
Burial location: Holy Trinity, Slad, Gloucestershire, England, UK
Gender: male
Nationality: UK
Country (for map): England, UK
Birthplace: Uplands, Stroud, Gloucestershire, England, UK
Place of death: Slad, Gloucestershire, England, UK
Places of residence: Uplands, Stroud, Gloucestershire, England, UK (birth)
Slad, Gloucestershire, England, UK (death)
Spain
Education: Central Boys' School, Stroud, England, UK
Occupations: poet
novelist
autobiographer
journalist
script writer
Relationships: Mansell, Frank (friend)
Smith, Emma (secretary, protégé)
David, Julian (son-in-law)
Lee, Jessy (daughter)
Organizations: International Brigades
Awards and honors: Member of the Order of the British Empire (1952)
Short biography: Laurie Lee was born and raised in a rural part of England in a bygone era of innocence and simplicity, which he lovingly described in his most famous work, an autobiographical trilogy consisting of Cider with Rosie (1959), As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning (1969) and A Moment of War (1991). Cider with Rosie continues to be one of the most popular books in Britain, and is sometimes used as a school text in English literature. He fought on the Republican side in the Spanish Civil War, and during World War II he made documentary films for the UK government. Before devoting himself entirely to writing in 1951, Lee worked as a journalist and as a scriptwriter. In 1950 he married Catherine Francesca Polge and the couple had one daughter, Jessy.

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Discussions

BRITISH AUTHOR CHALLENGE - SEPTEMBER 2016 - LESSING & LEE in 75 Books Challenge for 2016 (December 2016)

Australian new money killed in snowy English village in Name that Book (December 2016)

Reviews

Cider with Rosie by Laurie Lee

Not sure how it got on my list last week, but today I'm prioritizing it because [a:Michael Perry|2772479|Michael Perry|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1231631186p2/2772479.jpg], in one of his WSJ columns, mentioned that he loved hearing his wife read it aloud to him, even though he doesn't like being read to (which he does admit is ironic in several ways).

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Cheryl_in_CC_NV | 57 other reviews | Oct 18, 2024 |

Cider with Rosie: A Memoir (The Autobiographical… by Laurie Lee

Laurie Lee recounts his youth in the Slad Valley of the Cotswolds, England from his earliest memories to early teens. He lived with his Mother and 2 brothers, 3 step-sisters and a step-brother. His Father, after siring 5 living children on his first wife (who dies in childbirth), hiring a housekeeper to clean and care for them, marries her and sires 4 more, leaves them all for London. He sends a pittance for their care for the rest of his life but never returns. Life is tough but little different from others in the valley. He describes his relatives, his neighbors, his schooling, his friends, and other characters in the area. He writes of life by the season and by its festivals. His language is often flowery and dream-like. The time period is WWI and the twenties and the life one that has disappeared with the motorized world.… (more)

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Linda-C1 | 57 other reviews | Sep 26, 2024 |

A Rose for Winter by Laurie Lee

I found this a painterly and evocative book. My knowledge of Spain is limited to the 21st century, and Catalonia, so very different from 1950s Andalucia. He takes us with him as he travels in leisurely fashion from Algeciras to Granada and back again in the warm winter season. He takes in the landscape, describes towns, communities and individuals who come alive thanks to his vivid way with words. It's a short book, but one to savour, perhaps particularly if you know this area. He's made me want to know it, though the barren landscapes and way of life must be long gone.… (more)

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Margaret09 | 5 other reviews | Apr 15, 2024 |

A Moment of War by Laurie Lee

It would be wrong to say I 'enjoyed' this book, as it's an utterly bleak portrayal of Laurie Lee's life as one of the miscellaneous band of European intellectuals and working-class idealists who fetched up in Spain to do their bit to help the International Brigade in the Spanish Civil War. These men spent much of their time hungry, often baffled, bored and ill-led. Winter was bruisingly cold, and the towns and villages where they existed with half-starving Spaniards had withered to a state worse than simple poverty. Trust was in short supply. The experience was depressing to those who'd gone to Spain fired by the wish to make a grand gesture and personal sacrifices.

No, I didn't 'enjoy' this book. But I'm glad I've read it as a contribution to my understanding of a bitter period of Spanish history.… (more)

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Margaret09 | 11 other reviews | Apr 15, 2024 |

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