The Factory of Light : Tales from My Andalucian Village

by Michael Jacobs

Searching for a house to rent in 1999, Michael Jacobs was offered one in the Andalucian olive-growing community of Frailes. This was a place where the modern world enjoyed a strange co-existence with a virgin Andalucia ruled by a dynasty of saintly healers. It was not long before he decided to take up more permanent residence above the Discoteca Oh! As he shared in each season's special events, Michael's life became increasingly tied up with this village threatened by drought, unemployment, and decreasing population. He was taken under the wing of El Sereno, an elderly Romeo, while his friendship with the village social worker Merce - a woman who held court in a bar situated inside a cave - led him deeper into a miraculous world. Miracles were needed to save the place; and miracles began happening. With his dream of inviting a legendary Spanish actress to the village's abandoned Art Deco cinema, the truly unimaginable occurred, and the name of Frailes became known even to Hollywood.

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction, Spain

Paperback

First published June 5, 2003

Reviews

[Lauren Hiebner · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great descriptive story of life in Frailes, Spain. This is a quaint small town in the Sierra Sur Spain where life revolves around olive festivals and the simplicity of rural agricultural life. Jacobs a writer is drawn to the town after a month stay and finds it at times mysterious. The town has a reputation for being a faith healing site that pilgrims travel to. Jacobs stays long enough in Frailes to make the transition from observer to participant in life in rural Spain and ends up buying a house and living there. He not only becomes a part of the town but has an ability to accurately describe the individuals of the area. In becoming a part of anything, one finds out some secrets of how things really are. Such was Jacob’s case as he discovered that Frailes was a center of Masonic activity (even when illegal during the Franco years), spiritualism, and the occult. In fact Merce Jacob’s friend, was a faith healer and psychic. This was a delightful story of a small town in southern Spain. A good and fun read.

[Marjet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Michael Jacobs is a skilled writer with lots of imagination.
He falls in love with Frailes, an ordinary village tucked away in the province of Jaén in Andalusia. Or may be Frailes falls in love with him. Jacobs makes himself in any case very important once giving Frailes its importance in this world. He is befriended with everybody and everybody likes him. The climax of the book is the opening of an old cinema, which reads as a pageturner. An American filmcrew is invited and even Sara Montiel, a famous Spanish actress from fifty years ago, shows up. But in the end the story is blown out like a candle.

[Athanase Pernatte · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked up this piece of travel literature on shelves destined for the perusal of tourists of a villa in Andalucía. What I thought was an ordinary travelogue turned into a mystical journey where the author became entangled in the mystical fate of the locality and its mysterious generations of healers. It is not every day one comes across travel literature in which the author become part and parcel of the environment they set to describe.

[John Julius · Rating 5 out of 5]

Michael Jacobs embodies "duende" in THE FACTORY OF LIGHT. To me, it's the best book written about being a foreign resident in Spain. I back up that claim here: https://youtu.be/uvXtWEmJWwg

[Nick · Rating 2 out of 5]

yeah nah

[Veronica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not all expat books about life in a village in France/Spain/Italy are created equal, but I liked this one very much. I think partly it's because his experience mirrors mine, albeit in more spectacular form. Like him, I was first charmed by the welcome from people in our village, their willingness to include us in their activities and introduce us to their friends. And as he gets drawn more deeply into the life of the village, he makes true friends but also sees the seamier and less desirable side of life, and doesn't hesitate to draw a warts-and-all portrait. All of this is beautifully conveyed. And gradually he is drawn into a quixotic quest to re-open the village cinema for just one night, with a very well-known guest of honour. This project makes the second half of the book more compelling than the first. A very enjoyable read.

[Tory · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this in preparation for a trip to Andalusia, and I think it was a bit too narrow in scope to really serve that purpose. If I were traveling strictly to Frailes, I'd be all set, though! It's pretty slow-moving and while the quirks of the town and its denizens are enjoyable, they never quite cross over into funny. The purported point of this book, Michael Jacobs' revitalization of an abandoned theater, is hardly mentioned until the book is two-thirds over, and then that storyline is wrapped up in under 100 pages. There were a lot of stories here that I felt like could have been much more fleshed-out and enjoyable, including that one. I was also really wishing the book had a photo insert of the town, citizens, maps, etc. I did quite like the reporter's repeated misspellings of Maiquel Jaquebs, though!

[Saritha · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a recollection of how the author came to not only love this village called Frailes in Spain, but also how he ended up resuscitating an old memory. Written with great compassion and fondness for Frailes, her people, including the oddballs and the whole esoteric aura surrounding the saint of the region, called Santo Custodio and his legacy.

[Fiona · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best book about Andalucian village life (Jaen province) with a merciful lack of tales about house renovations and builders. This is only about the local characters, customs and countryside. Some wonderful scenarios, all beautifully explained. When Michael Jacobs died recently, the comments from his village neighbours were moving and hearfelt - he was held in high esteem.

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

I know the author, and have seen, and read many of his books.

This, in my opinion is his best, because he opens his heart to the reader.

It is a warm, affectionate account of Frailes, the village in Andalucia that he adopted, and which in turn adopted him.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

A writer finds his spiritual home in an Andalusian village. What's not to like?