In 1934, a young man walked to London from the security of the Cotswolds to make his fortune. He was to live by playing the violin and by a year's laboring on a London building site. Then, knowing one Spanish phrase, he decided to see Spain. For a year he tramped through a country in which the signs of impending civil war were clearly visible.

Laurie Lee has captured the atmosphere of the Spain he saw with all the freshness and beauty of a young man's vision, creating a lyrical and lucid picture of the beautiful and violent country that was to involve him inextricably.