Twenty years before Jack Kerouac set off On the Road, Lee (A Moment of War, Audio Reviews, LJ 3/15/94) left the safety of his rural English home and embarked on a wondrous adventure. Supporting himself by playing the violin, the 20-year-old Lee made his way to London and then to Spain, where he spent a year wandering across the countryside on foot. Eventually Lee encountered the undercurrents of civil war and found himself hopelessly entangled. Using the highly polished wordsmithing tools he has developed as a poet, Lee masterfully evokes the ambience and tension of Europe on the eve of World War II. Lee's narration is like curling up on one's grandfather's lap and listening to stories of being attacked by wolves, hounded by the police, romanced by idealism, and seduced by beauty. This work is a fine nonfiction complement to Ernest Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls. Highly recommended.-Ray Vignovich, West Des Moines P.L., Ia.
