Book info

• Title Driving Over Lemons
• Author Chris Stewart
• Year 1999
• Genre Memoir

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.

Thoughts

I inadvertently read Chris Stewart’s other memoir - early reminiscing about life at sea - before finding this, the story that made him a writer. In Driving Over Lemons, we are firmly land-locked, with Chris heading from an albeit already eclectic life in the UK (drummer with Genesis, sailor, sheep-shearer) to a self-sufficient farmer in the heart of Spain.

As always with these tales, our hero doesn’t quite know what he’s letting himself in for, and suffers through plenty of trials and tribulations, but eventually overcomes them to become part of the landscape. And the tales are fabulous in the telling - vivid characters, fantastic scenes, and a heart-warming feel to the whole thing without being soppy about it all.

I do love the concept of giving it all up and surviving off the land with as minimal a carbon footprint as you can get, but I know it’s something I couldn’t do. So living vicariously through books like this will have to do, and this was a great one. I can’t wait to read the sequel!

Rating: 5 / 5