The third of Laurie Lee's trilogy of auto-biographies and the shortest of them. This begins, as expected, where the last one left off, with Lee having entered Spain across the Pyrenees in winter to join the Spanish Civil War. That might sound like a stupid thing to do, and that's because it is. Aside from the peril of the Pyrenees in winter, he is also immediately taken for a spy which sets up the introduction to this 'adventure' quite appropriately. He spends weeks in a cell, or a pit, awaiting the same death that had visited his cellmate, but at seemingly the last moment he is somehow given a pass and pushed stumbling onwards towards the horrors of war.
Throughout, this book is a catalogue of the errors of youthful foolish bravado. He spends 2 more episodes in a cell charged as a spy. He spends months on end hanging out in training camps that give the impression of being refuges for the useless appendages of a barely more useful army. And at the point he visits the front, it recedes away from him in almost a flash. He is involved in a single fight and the horror of killing a man puts him out of action just as soon as he was put in to it.
Everything about the country at war is thrown in stark contrast against the rosy picture that had been painted in the second book, as he had travelled in peace. It's an interesting end to a trilogy that had begun with such poetic nostalgia driven reverie. It gives a grim image of the Republican Spanish position in this era and it makes for a compelling read for it, but I feel like theres more that could have been said.
Reading this has reminded me that I have an unread copy of Orwell's 'Homage to Catalonia' somewhere, which I believe is his account of the Spanish Civil War, so I'm interested to read that soon enough too now. Not next though. I need something altogether different first.
Finished reading - 26/08/26