A resolve to be a giant among men, to conquer, plunder and seize the greatness that he thinks is his right. New and familiar characters abound, voiced by a bright mix of performers, including Kat Dennings, Regé-Jean Page, Emma Corrin, Michael Sheen, Kristen Schaal, Brian Cox, John Lithgow, Jeffrey Wright, and so many more, including fan-favorite narrators Simon Vance and Ray Porter. I wish I could have believed his depiction of Spain on the brink of war with Generalissimo Franco’s fascists.

One night I took shelter in a ruined castle which I found piled on top of a crag – a gaunt roofless fortress tufted with the nests of ravens and scattered with abandoned fires. I would go on to the next book in his series (in which he takes part in the fighting) if only I could take it as real.Neither claim is remotely credible, the pins nor the clock, and the first even less so when juxtaposed against the second. Beautifully written book about Laurie Lee's experiences as a nineteen-year-old walking through Spain just before, and as, the Civil War started.

We take pride in offering a wide selection of used books, from classics to hidden gems, ensuring there is something for every literary palate. As I warmed my stiff limbs, I looked down the valley from which the sharp hard cries were coming, and saw a group of old women, as black as charcoal, slapping out sheets along the banks of a stream. I laid the fiddle beside me, used the knapsack as a pillow, and stretched out on the bed of stones; then folded my hands, hooked my little fingers together, shut my eyes and prepared to sleep. The Penguin I read includes line drawings by Leonard Rosoman, which are taken from the first edition, so presumably Lee would have had some input into them. I spent the rest of the day climbing a steep terraced valley, then camped for the night on a craggy hilltop.Two years later he is fortuitously “rescued” off the coast of southern Spain by the Royal Navy trawling the Spanish beaches for stray Brits marooned between the warring factions of the Spanish Civil War. Then, after losing his job as a building labourer, he decided to set off on another adventure, this time to Spain, taking his battered violin so that he could earn some money as a busker. First though, he wants to see the sea, so heads towards Southampton through the English countryside just as summer is beginning.