‘Spain is one of the absolutes. Nothing is more compelling than the drama, at once dark and dazzling, of that theatre over the hills . . .’
Passionate, evocative and beautifully written, Spain is a companion to the country: its people, its history and its character. First published in 1964 and no less compelling today, this classic work by Jan Morris is a wonderful sweep through history, in which she explores the splendour of the landscape and the glory and tragedy of the nation.
‘The most evocative book ever written about Spain.’ Independent
A Leap into the Light
I first met Jan Morris in the offices of the publisher Random House in New York in the early 1980s. I was a junior editor there, and was invited to meet someone I considered to be one of the most...
Read moreConundrum | Chapter 7: Rescued – a grand love . . .
Love rescued me from that remote and eerie capsule, as it rescued me from self-destruction, and everything they say about love, in dicta sublime as in lyric abysmal, is demonstrably true. I have...
Read moreMelancholy but Marvellous
The capital of nowhere – could anywhere be more tantalizing? For those of us increasingly blasé or wary about visiting ‘somewheres’ the world over, many of them the target of hordes of other...
Read moreDominion over Palm and Pine
When people ask me what they should read about the Empire, I suggest they go to the five volumes of the Oxford History of the British Empire, where they will find a mass of recent research...
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