Has anyone else out there read Laurie Lee?

I wandered into the library last night and picked up The Edge of Day, the American publication title of Lee's most famous autobiographical work, Cider With Rosie. This was some long-ago book sale/flea market find, a joyful one as far as I was concerned. I read a condensed version of his story in what I remember being part of a fifth or sixth grade reader, although the subject matter seems more as if it would have been more suited to junior high--one of the incidents related was Lee's near-death from pneumonia and about the daft nurse who was trying to "lay him out" before he had stopped breathing. Perhaps it was at a later grade than I recall. I do remember most of the other children being rather bored with it, while I was fascinated: I loved the way he used words, his descriptions that, although written in prose form, had the ring of poetry. I later found the entire book in one of the local libraries, then found this copy of my own.

I find myself no less entranced thirty years later at the lyrical--yet all too realistic--portrayal of the hard English village life of the 1920s. The sting of winter and warmth of summer, the comfort of home, the terrors and joys of being a small child, remain as vivid as ever.

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 8:01:00 PM

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