It's two decades since Chris Stewart moved to his farm on the wrong side of a river in the mountains of southern Spain and his daughter Chloee is preparing to fly the nest for university. In this latest, typically hilarious dispatch from El Valero we find Chris, now a local literary celebrity, using his fame to help his old sheep-shearing partner find work on a raucous road trip; cooking a TV lunch for visiting British chef, Rick Stein; discovering the pitfalls of Spanish public speaking; and recalling his own first foray into the adult world of work.
Yet it's at El Valero, his beloved sheep farm, that Chris remains in his element as he, his wife Ana and their assorted dogs, cats and sheep weather a near calamitous flood and emerge as newly certified organic farmers. His cash crop? The lemons and oranges he once so blithely drove over, of course.
Descubrí este libro por casualidad, intentando reponer mis reservas vacacionales en un Eroski. Y me atrajeron la portada y el título (lo confieso), lo suficiente para mirar la contraportada. Al ver que era un libro autobiográfico sobre una pareja de ingleses que lo deja todo y monta una granja en la Alpujarra, me lo llevé sin dudarlo.
El autor escribe muy bien, es una delicia leer sus descripciones. Todo el libro transpira bonhomía y ganas de vivir, además de una más que saludable dosis de inteligencia e ironía amable. Un placer de lectura.
Descubro además que éste es, en palabras de su autor, el cuarto libro de la trilogía de "Driving over lemons", por lo que ya tengo tres más en la lista de pendientes.
