As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning

Laurie Lee (1969)
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THE A5 BOOK REVIEW

Most of us have imagined walking out the door in search of a new life, setting forth on a journey without a safety net to find fame and fortune.  As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning is a memoir by Laurie Lee, a young man who did just that, leaving the security of his comfortable English village in the Cotswolds in 1934 to travel through depression-era England, supporting himself by playing violin and working the towns.  From there, he made his way to Spain, again wandering the country amidst the backdrop of the impending Civil War, often sleeping outdoors.  The region was suffering, but Lee’s experience, even in the poorest of villages, is of generosity and beauty.  Written 30 years later, his poetic writing is both elegant and captivating, a great story that captures the spirit of that time.  
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ABOUT LAURIE LEE

Laurie Lee was an English novelist and poet best known for an autobiographical trilogy starting with his most famous work, Cider with Rosie (1959), a book summarizing his childhood growing up in the village of Slad in Gloucestershire, England.  As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning, was published 10 years later.  The last in the trilogy, A Moment of War, described his time in the Spanish Civil War in 1937, but interestingly wasn’t published until 1991.  Lee died in 1997.  

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GREAT QUOTES FROM AS I WALKED OUT ONE MIDSUMMER MORNING

“The stooping figure of my mother, waist-deep in the grass and caught there like a piece of sheep's wool, was the last I saw of my country home as I left it to discover the world.  She stood old and bent at the top of the bank, silently watching me go, one gnarled hand raised in farewell and blessing, not questioning why I went.  At the bend of the road I looked back again and saw the gold light die behind her; then I turned the corner, passed the village school, and closed that part of my life..”

“For the first time I was learning how much easier it was to leave than to stay behind and love.”

INTERESTING LINKS:

picture of Laurie Lee's tombstone
  • Read a story on Lee and the countryside of his youth, published in the Independent,
  • The title of the book came from a Gloucestershire folk song called "The Banks of Sweet Primroses"
  • Laurie Lee died in 1997.  Read his obituary in the New York Times.
  • Lee's book is known as one of the classics of travel writing.  See our full list of the best classic books in travel literature.

LAURIE LEE READS FROM HIS BOOK