Driving Over Lemons: An Optimist in Andalucia

Driving Over Lemonsis that rare thing: a funny, insightful book that charms you from the first page to the last... and one that makes running a peasant farm in Spain seem like a distinctly good move. Chris transports us to Las Alpujarras, an oddball region south of Granada, and into a series of misadventures with an engaging mix of peasant farmers and shepherds, New Age travellers and ex-pats. The hero of the piece, however, is the farm that he and Ana bought, El Valero - 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? 'An idyllic life in a remote, sunny part of Europe is a fantasy normally punctured by harsh realities, and abandoned. Chris is made of sterner stuff. Driving Over Lemonsis a wonderful account of his Andalucian adventure.' Peter Gabriel, former Genesisbandmate