Product Description

Chris, eternal optimist and itinerant sheep shearer, moves with his wife Ana to a mountain farm in Las Alpujarras, an oddball region in the south of Spain. Misadventures gleefully unfold as Chris discovers that the owner has no intention of leaving and meets their neighbours, an engaging mix of peasant farmers and shepherds, New Age travellers and ex-pats. Their daughter Chloë is born, linking them irrevocably to their new life. The hero of the piece, however, is the farm itself – a patch of mountain studded with olive, almond and lemon groves, sited on the wrong side of a river, with no access road, water supply or electricity. Could life offer much better than that?

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3503 in Books
• Published on: 2009-06-04
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 240 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
All Provenced out? Then head further south this year, to the breathtaking mountainous climes of Andalucia. Just don't be squeamish about driving over lemons.

Chris Stewart, skilled sheep-shearer and sometime Genesis drummer, took one look at the Alpujarr´s, the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, and decided that's where he wanted to be. This is the story of his adventures coming to terms with the terrain, the lifestyle and, of course, the locals, who possess all the rugged, homespun charm you'd expect. Stewart soon discovers all the hidden foibles of his bargain purchase, and spends the following year(rendered here in detail) installing the little luxuries of life like, say, water.

However, just when you're worrying that all this might degenerate into a rose-tinted "Englishman finds nature" idyll, Chris's wife enters the fray. Nonsense-free, straight-talking and relentlessly unsentimental, Ada should be a required resource for all travel writers. Ada gets bored with the fake machismo of pig-killing, Ada sees through the selfless "help" of the natives, Ada calls a peasant a peasant. With her on board, Stewart has the perfect counterbalance to his declared optimism, and Driving Over Lemons becomes a loving but clear-sighted encomium, economically and wittily written, to a wonderful part of the world. --Alan Stewart

Review
"When an author is as modest and humorous as this, his story cannot be told too often." Elizabeth Buchan, The Times "Exquisite... in Driving Over Lemons the anecdote flourishes once more." Penelope Lively, The Daily Telegraph"

From the Back Cover
"Chris Stewart is one of life's bold originals." The Independent Meet Chris Stewart, the eternal optimist. A man who flies to Spain, sees a peasant farm on the wrong side of the river and, with scarcely a second thought, hands over a cash deposit. And then finds he has acquired not just the farm, but the farmer, too, who has no intention of leaving. Not to mention the lack of running water, electricity or even a bridge. It would be enough to send most people straight back home. But Chris and his wife Ana are made of stronger stuff - and besides, they have sunk all their savings into their farm, El Valero, and buying a flock of sheep. So there is no turning back. Life gets tough, but it also gets good. Driving Over Lemons is that rare thing - a funny, insightful book that charms you from the first sun-lit page to the last. And one that makes running an Andalucian mountain farm seem like a half-decent career move. It has been a major bestseller in both Britain and Spain. This Anniversary Edition of Driving Over Lemons includes an extensive author interview with Chris Stewart, bringing events up to date at El Valero. Book One of The Driving Over Lemons trilogy

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Customer Reviews

One of those books that you don't want to finish
I tried to read the book as slowly as possible and savour each word as I just didn't want to get to the end. Dragging the consciousness back into commuting across a grey London was hard going for a few days. Looking forward to the sequel.

The feel good book of the summer
This is clearly a dangerous and subversive piece of literature for young career people. My first instincts were to put the book down, ask for early retirement and head out to the wonderfully world of of Chris Stewert in beautiful Andalusia.

Warm, witty and wonderful
I read this book whilst on holiday in Northern Italy and couldn't put it down. I had no idea that goats could break wind and belch simultaneously! I can't wait to hear his next installment of life as a stranger in a strange land. Easy reading and highly recommended.