A pleasant surprise...
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When I saw that the author was American I feared that it would be the normal blinkered and uninformed view of people who often don't understand the rest of the world and feel that the rest of us have yet to achieve enlightenment. WHOOPEE, I was wrong.
It is beautifully written, with gentle humour and observant detail that will interest all who love the island. His descriptions of people and their characters soon takes you under the skin of the place, and the book is an excellently preserved record of life around, I guess, 50 or 60 years ago.
As a sideshow, the book also includes references to the Soller/Deia arty-farty set, many in their infancy of fame - his views on people like Alan Sillitoe and Robert Graves are extremely revealing, some come out of it well, others less so - including the well-known British author who came round for dinner, drank all the gin, and vomited over his table. You'll have to read the book to see who it was!
Many people who write about life on the island parachute in for a while, write their stuff, then go back to their other life...Chuck Maisel did this too, BUT he does not fall into the usual predatory category, and you'll need to read the book to see why. In the end, he, like many travellers, has to return to his roots and that's what he did, but not before setting down a wonderful few years into this sympathetic and highly readable book.
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United States | 
United Kingdom | 
Canada