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Jackdaw Cake : An Autobiography : An Eland Historical Travel Narrative - Norman Lewis

Jackdaw Cake : An Autobiography

An Eland Historical Travel Narrative

By: Norman Lewis

Paperback | 20 February 2013

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With dry, laconic wit, Norman Lewis remembers his transformation from stammering Welsh schoolboy to worldy wise, multilingual sergeant in the Intelligence Corps, on the cusp of becoming a writer.

With a calm, observant gaze from the start, the young Norman moves from Spiritualist parents in Enfield to live with supremely dotty aunts in Carmarthen, whose baking of a weekly cake to feed the jackdaws gives the book its title. Escaping his eccentric family by marrying the daughter of a Sicilian associate of the Mafia, Norman made a living as a wedding photographer and by dealing in cameras, while restoring and racing Bugattis for pleasure. Here we see his first journeys in Spain, Cuba and the Yemen and a wartime spent in Algeria, Sicily and Italy, all of which acted as an apprenticeship for his career as one of the twentieth century's greatest travel writers.

Industry Reviews

'... as a witness to his own times - the good, the bad and the ludicrous - he is unmatched' Sunday Times

'... a wonderful read - what a magical storyteller Mr Lewis can be ...' Daily Telegraph

'Mr Lewis is undoubtedly possessed of the quick inner eye that can spot at once the fantastical in the everyday ... this book, hilarious, tender, beautifully written, is certainly one of Normas Lewis's best.' Literary Review

The Eland Historical Travel Narrative Series

Goodbye Buenos Aires : An Eland Historical Travel Narrative - Andrew Graham-Yooll
A Place Apart : Northern Ireland in the 1970s - Dervla Murphy
Tibetan Foothold : An Eland Historical Travel Narrative - Dervla Murphy
Stamboul Sketches : Encounters in Old Istanbul - John Freely
Transit of Venus : Travels in the Pacific - Julian Evans
The Missionaries : An Eland Historical Travel Narrative - Norman Lewis