Hux's Reviews > As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning

Much like Sebald's 'Rings of Saturn' there is something of a creative and fictional current running through 'As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning.' I'm starting to think that travel writers are in possession of the most beautiful language.

Lee begins by leaving his home in Stroud and heading to the south coast where he makes money as a violin busker. He eventually makes his way to London where he works on a building site. But the book really begins when he arrives in Spain, starting at Vigo, moving on to Zamora, Valladolid, Madrid, Toledo, Malaga, Gibraltar, and ending in Almuñécar. He details the people and landscapes of each new place as well as his various encounters with brothels and drinking establishments. Again, he makes a living by playing his violin or simply relying on the kindness of strangers often sleeping rough or making do with whatever comes his way. The book then ends with the beginnings of the civil war.

The real treat of the book, however, is the writing. He has such an amazing turn of phrase and describes things in a manner that produces genuinely provocative images in your mind. Each sentence is beautifully crafted and offers a glorious flow of exquisite prose. Not to mention some very funny (and very British) interpretations. Such as his encounter with a mother pimping her own daughter.

"Then one of them beckoned me indoors and offered me her giant daughter, who lay sprawled on a huge brass bed. The sight of the girl and the bed, packed into that tiny room, was like some familiar 'Alice' nightmare. I could only smile and stutter, clutching the doorpost and pretending not to understand. 'Love!' cried the mother, shaking the bed till it rattled, while the girl bounced slowly like a basking whale. I complimented the woman and made some excuse, saying that it was too early in the day."