East Baton Rouge Parish Library

Romancing Spain, a memoir, Lamar Herrin

eng

no index present

non fiction

Romancing Spain

63116963

Lamar Herrin

a memoir

"Novelist Herrin (House of the Deaf) uses his considerable agility with words to great effect in his first full-length nonfiction work, a memoir of his courtship of a beautiful young Spanish girl. He intertwines that story of 30 years ago with the present-day journey he and the girl, who is now his wife, take through Spain, looking for the perfect town. This is a romance between Herrin and Spain and, more profoundly, between the author and his wife, whose courtship sorely tested both them and their families. Herrin's authentic descriptions of his wife's family members and the complicated events leading to their wedding (he was divorced and his future wife Catholic) will touch and amuse many readers; at the same time, he takes in the exotic scents and sounds of ancient Spanish villages and rituals. Herrin's love for his wife and for Spain have only matured and deepened in the decades since he was introduced to them." --Library Journal"Which did I fall in love with first, the woman or the country? This is Herrin's refrain in this memoir-cum-travelogue, which reads like a love letter both to his wife of 30 years, Amparo, and to Spain, her native country. Traveling to numerous small towns and villages in Spain, often via primitive country roads, prompts a cascade of memories about the couple's early courtship and marriage and the numerous obstacles they had to overcome. During the 1970s, Spaniards looked upon Americans with a mixture of fear and awe, and Amparo's family was no exception. The culture clash between the recently divorced, Kentucky-born Protestant and the overprotected, moody Catholic is eloquently and often humorously rendered. Chaperoned dates and instruction in the customs, traditions, and ceremonies of Amparo's hometown are taken in stride, but the Catholic Church's strict doctrines on divorce prove to be a far more serious hurdle. Meanwhile the couple's quest to find the ideal retirement village is described in luminous detail, with much instructive commentary on architecture and food and drink. A lovely book that will appeal to both romantics and travelers." --Joanne Wilkinson Copyright 2006 Booklist