Laurie Lee was a poet, a traveller and a denisen of the Slad valley in Gloucestershire. He is probably best known for his autobiographical writings, of which "Cider with Rosie" is the first installment. Lee's family was sizeable and not well off - his mother had married a man who already had a small flock of offspirng, and proceeded to have a further two sons of her own. Mr Lee had designs on making a career for himself and larggely abandonned his wife and children in favour of followign a job. Mrs Lee struggles on, keeping the family together, keeping a roof over their heads despite poverty and difficulty. She was, as the book shows, a peculiar ...  Read the complete review

One of the pleasant surprises I found in my Christmas stocking this year was a hardback illustrated copy of Cider with Rosie, one of my all time favourite books. For those of you who haven’t read the book, ‘Cider With Rosie’ is Laurie Lee's stunning story of his life in the heart of the Gloucestershire countryside between the years 1917 and 1934. His autobiography conjures up a world of unsophisticated warmth and beauty as it tells of his early life from childhood to adolescence. The story is very nostalgic and captures a vanished era in scintillating prose, bordering on poetry, with a wicked sense of humour. It is incredibly ...  Read the complete review