Village Christmas

by Laurie Lee

From the author of Cider With Rosie, Village Christmas is a moving, lyrical portrait of England through the changing years and seasons.

Laurie Lee left his childhood home in the Cotswolds when he was nineteen, but it remained with him throughout his life until, many years later, he returned for good. This collection brings to life the sights, sounds, landscapes and traditions of his home - from centuries-old May Day rituals to his own patch of garden, from carol singing in crunching snow to pub conversations and songs. Here too he writes about the mysteries of love, living in wartime Chelsea, Winston Churchill's wintry funeral and his battle, in old age, to save his beloved Slad Valley from developers.

Told with a warm sense of humour and a powerful sense of history, Village Christmas brings us a picture of a vanished world.

Genres: Christmas, Nonfiction, Memoir, Essays, Classics, British Literature, Biography

152 pages, Paperback

First published November 5, 2015

About the author

Laurence Edward Alan "Laurie" Lee, MBE, was an English poet, novelist, and screenwriter. His most famous work was an autobiographical trilogy which consisted of Cider with Rosie (1959), As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning (1969) and A Moment of War (1991). While the first volume famously recounts his childhood in the idyllic Slad Valley, the second deals with his leaving home for London and his first visit to Spain in 1934, and the third with his return in December 1937 to join the Republican International Brigade.

Reviews

[Amanda B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes you read the right book at the right time. This was such a book for me and more than once did I have tears in my eyes imagining how things were in much simpler times. Beautiful descriptive writing, consisting mostly of Laurie Lee’s tales of his early years in the Cotswolds and later years in London. 4.5 ⭐️

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

The slow unwrapping of Christmas in the winter dawn

Lee has always considered his home to be in the Cotswolds, even when he left to walk across Europe, his heart still remained there. Village Christmas is a collection of essays and other writing about his favourite moments at home in the valley of Slad, and of other times in his life. He has fond memories of time long past, of cold winters and frozen ponds, carol singing and warm breath causing clouds as they walked.

The germs of spring stand on the brink of stillness, life loaded but as yet unfired

It is split into four sections one for each season with some of the seasonal delights and other wide ranging subjects like living in wartime Chelsea, the Lakes, country rituals and those moments as the seasons turn slowly on. It is a beautifully written book, with warm lyrical prose, so much so that you don’t feel that you are reading it, rather that you are immersed in his world and place. The way that he captures times long past in intimate detail makes you capture your breath. This is the first Lee book that I have read, but I have recently been recommended The Cider with Rosie trilogy. On the strength of this, I will definitely be reading them next year.

[Magrat Ajostiernos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Penguin, nos has engañado, ¡Esto no era un libro de relatos navideños! xD
En fin, no me quejo, ha sido un libro precioso que he disfrutado muchísimo, como no podía ser de otra manera porque... LAURIE LEE (¡Leeros/ y compraros de una maldita vez 'Sidra con Rosie' a ver si nos traen a España algo más porfa!)
En este libro ser recogen apuntes de la vida de Laurie Lee y de sus reflexiones, desde su vida en Londres, su infancia que relataba en 'Sidra con Rosie', su implicación en la Guerra Civil española o su fama literaria.
Habla de las cosas más trascendentales y de las más insustanciales de una manera increíblemente poética y evocadora ♥

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

To much work and not enough time to read lately, etc,etc.

A beautiful book that even when I was only able to read 5 to 10 pages it was a great release from the stress of daily life.

Laurie Lee is a fine writer that inspires the imagination and sparks the soul for a love of the countryside. There really is nothing to fault his beautiful writng, he genuinly writes in a way that really makes you see what he has seen. A view of the countryside that is near perfect, a childhood sense wonder pervades his stories of growing up in a place called Slad.

Highly recommended... Now where is that copy of Cider With Rosie mum was always telling me to read.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some pieces in this collection warrant 4 or 5 star ratings, and were obviously the ones I enjoyed the most - where he wrote about his childhood in the Slad Valley. However I did feel this collection of writing was brought down a little by some thinner, weaker less interesting pieces which felt as if they were only there as padding to make the book a decent length, which was a bit of a shame.

On the positive side, though, it has encouraged me to seek out his works for which he was most well known - my project for 2017.

[Mark my words · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some fine writing here. Though I was expecting each piece/note/article to concern its chosen season. Actually, when I first saw the book I thought it was all about village life at Christmas. So on two counts the title was rather misleading. very readable nontheless.

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

I never thought I'd pick up any book by Laurie Lee; set Cider with Rosie at school to read and study, I found a sense of rebellion and lost any real chance of a direct route into english literature. Having read his poetic and heart affirming words in this book I am drawn to say my education will resume as soon as I find my copy of Cider with Rosie.
This is a collection of stories and essays about life through the seasons of the year and in some ways also mirroring the passage of time in one's life on earth. His observation and knowledge of his childhood environment brings this part of the Cotswolds alive like no guide book could. His writing transports you to its pastorial best although much of it had changed even in Lee's remebering although he reckons he knew he was home when he heard the blackbirds signing in a gloucestershire accent.
He also spent some of his time living in London and his recollections of Chelsea are very interesting. At times he takes us on a geography field trip following the course of the Severn river and reminds us of our historical past remembering the Berkeleys.
However, it is his couplets and expressions that rise from each page that will live long after you close the book. I thoroughly enjoyed his insights into "Slagtown" and remembering of his local pub - The Queen's Elm. His notes on marriage are so cleverly pulled together without expressing his own bias "Sexual relationships now are relaxed and easy and can be slipped in and out of like sleeping-bags."
My favourite story is simply entitled 'My Day' and details both the struggles and successes of trying to be a writer and a poet.
I have never judged a book by its cover - this one is just magic. I now will never judge a book by its author. I have never been more pleased to have read a book when I didn't know what to expect. I trust all who pick it up will keep these stories to hand and dip into them often when they need a smile on their face or a sense of being.

[Andy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful, wonderful prose. Sumptuous. Laurie Lee combines words in a way that is almost divine. And he makes it seem effortless. His evocations are of his own personal world, and yet they make you feel warm and nostalgic about your own world. He somehow makes you see everything more clearly, and more beautifully.

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I remember reading cider with rosie when I was school so when I saw this selection of short stories in the bookshop decided to buy and glad I did as lee brings out visions of bygone years with what Christmas was and other visions of life in 1920's onwards until laurie lee himself was in old age, in parts there is a sense of humour.

[Shiloah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a perfect book to start around the Christmas season and to leisurely complete as you enter the new year. The title leads you to believe it’s more about Christmas, but really is short stories or histories with an opinion piece here and there. He goes through the seasons starting with winter and especially Christmas.

Laurie Lee had a passion for his native village in the Cotswold and understandably so. I thoroughly enjoyed my reading. I learned so much about customs and history in the small towns of England and especially from long ago eras. This is definitely one I will revisit in a few years.

[Richard Newton · Rating 4 out of 5]

2024 re-read: on holiday with a limited book supply and I found this book again in my house in the mountains. I don't think I would change my review much. A series of short observational pieces by Lee, loosely sorted into 4 sections named after the seasons of the year. That sorting is at times a little artificial, but it does not detract from a very pleasant read. At their best the short pieces in this book are excellent, and at their worst, not too bad and engaging enough. And even in the lesser pieces, Lee can be a master of the pithy and insightful phrase - worth reading for those alone.

Original 2016 review: A series of short observational pieces mostly about various aspects of Lee's life - whether in the well known Slad of Cider with Rosie or his later time in Chelsea, with a few different pieces about the history of places in the Cotswolds and observations on life. Mostly, highly evocative and enjoyable short pieces, with just a few that are not quite of the same standard. A pleasing, gentle read.

Read this if you like that warming melancholy for the past that Lee was a master of. Made up of such short pieces an easy book to dip into time and again.

As a complete aside, I can't quite get my head around someone who spent so much time eulogising and missing Slad choosing to live in Chelsea - even if it is not quite the same as the Chelsea we now know. The Chelsea he paints is charming and full of interesting characters, but it's not Slad. This detracts nothing from the book, it's just a question that popped into my brain now and again.

[Jeanette · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book just did not turn out to be what I thought it was. The title and the way the book was sectioned by season led me to think this was going to be more seasonally based.
The first few essays about Christmas were excellent and I enjoyed a few of the essays about spring but most of the essays were not seasonal in theme.

[Lulufrances · Rating 4 out of 5]

So glad I stumbled over this little collection in John Sandoe Books in Chelsea when I was in the mood for some Britain-centred narratives.
Laurie Lee writes beautifully and with humour, sans purple prose or pretensions and it was a delight to read. Exactly what I had in mind when picking it up.

[Sophy H · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautifully written collection of musings that incorporate nostalgia for childhood, reflections on lifestyle changes, alterations to geographical areas, people's habits and family dynamics.

Laurie Lee is reflective, pensive and full of self-awareness of what has been and gone and what is yet to come in his lifetime.

The writing is lyrical, poetic yet honest and full of integrity.

Much enjoyed.

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great writing from Mr Lee as always, some sections are better than others but overall the impact of the collection of writings as a whole is memorable and certain turns of phrase are simply unforgettable - 9.5/10.
Re-read at Christmas 2019 - still finding the writing so evocative as I have done since first reading Cider with Rosie at school as a teenager, which has always lingered in my memory and prompted me to read everything else he has written - 9.5/10.

[Keir Betts · Rating 4 out of 5]

Laurie Lee’s writing is evocative of a simpler time and to me sitting down with this book was like sitting down with a favoured elderly relative.

Tales of Lee’s youth in rural England depict a world unbeknownst to most of us today, yet manage to conjure up vivid imagery in his trademark style.

Later stories describe a London which has largely been forgotten and showcase the changing face of post war Britain.

While this collection did not strike a chord with me in the same manner as some of Lee’s other work it contains stories that will stay with me and I’m sure shall return to many times.

This book will surely remind any reader of the importance of love, friendship and community in light of a rapidly changing society.

[Colin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not sure I dare to read Cider with Rosie again. It was something I sweated over at 15 and 16, trying to map out the characters and themes in my mind, in order to regurgitate them onto paper for the o'level examiners and, goddammit, only got a B, but it left an impression on me, all the same, and I feel like his rural childhood in the 30s is almost as present to me as my suburban one in the 70s and 80s. If I were to read it all again, would my memory of it change? Probably. But here's the next best thing: a collection of texts that touch on some of the themes, reflect on changes in the decades after publication; his little bit of fame at the local and national level. I picked it to read because the title was in keeping with the season, but I went in to read the chapters on spring, summer, autumn too, and emerged sticky with nostalgia for a past I don't really remember at all, except as an early literary memory.

[Clarissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

My fifth Laurie Lee book! I believe it could be safe to say that he is my favourite British writer maybe even my actual favourite writer.

Village Christmas and Other Notes on the English Year is a selection of nostalgic recollections of his childhood in Gloucestershire, memories of residing in Chelsea London in adult life and other musings in between. The selection is divided loosely around the four seasons. Some of stories are better than others and there was only one that I did not connect with at all.

Lee's signature painterly prose is present as always as he leads the reader through the hazy nostalgia of a vanished world.

I could quote, highlight several lines and paragraphs from this but I'll quote just the one;

'The English Spring'
'Almost every place in the world knows some measure of Spring - a moment's thaw, a brief changing of gears, perhaps a pause in the furnace of some desert wind, a burst of rock-flowers, a revving-up of the blood.
But Spring comes to England as to no other country, as though this island were its natural home, as though this small platform on the edge of the Atlantic was the original spawning ground of the season. Indeed you might also imagine, to judge from much of our folklore and poetry, the Spring and England had invented each other.'

[Gill]

Well, I'm disappointed with this one.

It's partly my fault for not reading the description of the book in detail. When I bought it (in an online sale of Christmas type ebooks) I assumed from the cover that it was all short passages about Christmas and winter. Then, when I realised it wasn't, I, quite reasonably, assumed from the title that all the passages were to do with the different seasons etc. Which they are not!

So, to summarise, I liked the first very few bits to do with the winter. I dipped in to other parts of the book, but too many of the passages didn't interest me. So I left the book unfinished.

[Lady R · Rating 5 out of 5]

I grew up in the Cotswolds so this was already going to be an evocative read for me.
I also grew up with "cider with Rosie" and it's a book I return to from time to time and love.
Lee has a beautiful lyrical writing style - he perfectly conjures up the Christmases & winters of my childhood but it's also a brilliant portrait of a stolen and often now-forgotten way of life.
I will keep this book on by bedside table year round to dip into as the seasons change for the perfect escapism.

[Silvia · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's not a book just about Christmas, it actually is more like reverence for the British countryside.

[Sophia Araya · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️ Only a few short stories in here were five stars for me, but this book is still worth a read for Laurie Lee’s beautiful writing. Here are some of my favorite parts:

🎄”Among the black and bare trees we shook the snow from the undergrowth with frost-reddened fingers, seeking the sharp-spiked holly, bunches of laurel and ivy, cold clusters of moon-pale mistletoe. With these, our sisters transformed the familiar kitchen into a grotto of shining leaves, an enchanted bower woven from twigs and branches sprinkled with scarlet berries.”

🎅🏻 on stockings: “Of all moments in childhood this must remain the most haunting, most unforgettable: the drowsy hand in the cold of the winter’s dawn reaching out as a test of hope, then suddenly finding itself filled with this weight of love, bestowed silently while it slept.”

🍂 “The evenings in London now are chill and mysterious. In the sky and streets there is a blue autumnal haze… It is October; and as the first breath of winter begins to kindle the fires and boilers in a thousand shops, offices and public buildings, London settles down under its smoke to prepare for the coming cold. And London, with its lights, fires, smoke and multitudes, can be a cosy place in winter- much cosier than rainswept fields and dripping woods. And it’s not only man that finds it so. For this is the time of year when a strange visitation begins to occupy the heart of this great city- a comparatively recent visitation, but mysterious, wild and un-citylike.”

[Nathalie (keepreadingbooks) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I will admit, I mainly read this one for the Christmas bits. Or at least, that's why I picked it up in December rather than at any other point this year. And the winter/Christmas part was also by far my favourite, though that could be due to my Christmas-craving mood ;)

Laurie Lee writes in an accessible and very human way about growing up in the Cotswolds in a time where the digital age was still a sci-fi dream. Nature obviously plays a large part in his memories, and so do traditions, both Christian and pagan. That was the essence of village life in the early-to-mid 1900s - traditions, nature, harmony and not least community. Everyone knew everyone and children roamed the village 'roads' freely all year round.

It's idyllic, there's no doubt about that, and he laments the loss of that life more than once, but also admits that memories sometimes make things appear more rosy than they were - such as when he exaggerates how 'every' winter back then was filled with snow and clear days.

It's always difficult to read about other seasons in a particular season. My mood follows the seasons to a large extent, so reading about summer while getting ready for Christmas made it slightly odd - and probably accounts for the fact that after the 'winter' part, I was just eager to finish it and move on to my next Christmas read.

I don't doubt, however, that I'll read more of Lee's work in the near future!

/NK

[Karen M · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this at the start of a new year wanting a little nostalgia, a glimpse of a different time and a partial escape from the present. Lee certainly did not disappoint. The childhood Christmas descriptions with all the details so crisp and bright were the best for me. His poetic use of words , which seems so effortless , leaves clear images of the little choir boys moving round the village houses singing in their clear treble voices, Christmas Eve shopping, the Christmas pudding , the greenery collecting and decorating - and the lovely lines about bringing in the tree . The food , the clothes ... all spring from the pages.
It’s interesting to read about his time in Chelsea , a Chelsea that is so far removed from current times , and his Spanish time and people and places tinged by his feelings but for me it’s when he’s in the countryside or his garden that the words come alive.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was another book that unfortunately didn’t turn out as I expected. Drawn to it by the title, I thought that the book was primarily going to be about Christmas, followed by other seasonal notes. The opening few chapters deserved 4 or 5 stars but others only warranted 3 stars. There were even the odd one or two chapters that I was unsure as to what relevance they played in the book.

Despite this, Laurie Lee has a unique way of writing. His lyrical and poetic style of writing draws you into the book and at times, you feel like you are reliving his childhood with him. Laurie Lee is a fantastic writer and the ‘odd’ chapters here and there didn’t ruin the book for me.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my first time reading Laurie Lee and his writing has a wonderful, lyrical quality. I enjoyed how the book was separated into seasons, beginning with winter and ending in autumn. And many of the essays made me long to visit the Cotswolds again. I now need to move Cider With Rosie up on my TBR.

[Christian Jenkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely collection of short musings and recollections about his life. The book has a lovely charm which on his thoughts about the past, present, future, and the cycle of the year.
I was slightly disappointed that there weren't more Christmas reminiscences as the title would suggest, indeed most of the Christmas stories are near word for word from 'Cider with Rosie', nonetheless it was lovely to read.

[Lydia Bailey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Classic for a reason- simply beautiful writing.

[Molly · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5

[Mike Jennings · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent collection of short stories and memories. Some really nice moments here. I won't spoil them all for you, but here's just one of them: He was sitting in the sun in his Cotswolds village when a young girl tourist came up and asked him if he knew where Laurie Lee was buried.

Some of the stories are humorous, some are touching, some sad - as you'd expect from Laurie Lee.