Spiders and Wine - Book Review
Murcia has its own authoress. Name is Deborah Fletcher!
Debs - as she's known to her friends - is a very understated person. I've known her for nearly a year and she's never told me that she's written a book. During a chit-chat the other day she mentioned in passing that she's done exactly that!
Settling in Murcia is, compared to nearly any other part of Spain, traditionally favoured by the British, very different. It is considered as "Real Spain" - whatever that is.
Debs and her husband John, originally bought a property in the Costa Blanca in pursuit of the "Spanish dream", but found themselves in an environment, which I normally call "Little Britain with sun". This was not what Debs wanted, so she "gently nudged" John to search for an old property in "The Middle of Nowhere". They found the answer in Bullas in the North West of Murcia and it is the perils of settling in a rural area of Murica, Debs' book "Spiders and Wine" is about.
My husband and I have lived in Spain for respectively 16 and 24 years - yes, we met and married here. 12 years we have lived in Murcia, and the last 7 years in a remote part, tucked away in the mountains, surrounded by Spanish neighbours - very much like the conditions under which Debs and John live.
I have read tons of books about settling in Spain and have concluded that nobody can give you advice on how to deal with the "natives", probably because it's not a question of "dealing" with them, but to live with them and to accept our differences.
That is exactly why I enjoyed Debs' book.
With a great deal of humour, Debs is describing life in a remote valley, while she and her husband are renovating a shed into a liveable house with all the modern commodities necessary for us Northern Europeans. All the while their Spanish neighbours are watching, shaking their heads.
Wild life, in the form of spiders, wild boars and scorpions; pets - whether dogs, cats or cockatoos; neighbourly courtesies, being over-the-fence exchange of produce or at special occasions, are all things anybody who has settled among the Spanish in a rural environment can relate to. Debs describes it with a wonderful sense of humour - aiming both at our peculiar set ways as well as our hosts'.
It is easy reading, full of humour and love for the Spanish way of live. I enjoyed reading it because it is the first book I have come across that I can relate to after 12 years of sharing my life with the Murcians. Maybe the biggest compliment the book can get, is that my husband, who is not into reading books, but ploughs through Spanish newspapers every day, is deeply engrossed in "Spiders and Wine" while I am writing this review of Debs' book.
Are you asking me to rate it? Okay, I have no other choice but to give it 5 stars. Read it - it is a true description of rural Murcian life from an expat's point of view!
Murcia has its own authoress. Name is Deborah Fletcher!
Debs - as she's known to her friends - is a very understated person. I've known her for nearly a year and she's never told me that she's written a book. During a chit-chat the other day she mentioned in passing that she's done exactly that!
Settling in Murcia is, compared to nearly any other part of Spain, traditionally favoured by the British, very different. It is considered as "Real Spain" - whatever that is.
Debs and her husband John, originally bought a property in the Costa Blanca in pursuit of the "Spanish dream", but found themselves in an environment, which I normally call "Little Britain with sun". This was not what Debs wanted, so she "gently nudged" John to search for an old property in "The Middle of Nowhere". They found the answer in Bullas in the North West of Murcia and it is the perils of settling in a rural area of Murica, Debs' book "Spiders and Wine" is about.
My husband and I have lived in Spain for respectively 16 and 24 years - yes, we met and married here. 12 years we have lived in Murcia, and the last 7 years in a remote part, tucked away in the mountains, surrounded by Spanish neighbours - very much like the conditions under which Debs and John live.
I have read tons of books about settling in Spain and have concluded that nobody can give you advice on how to deal with the "natives", probably because it's not a question of "dealing" with them, but to live with them and to accept our differences.
That is exactly why I enjoyed Debs' book.
With a great deal of humour, Debs is describing life in a remote valley, while she and her husband are renovating a shed into a liveable house with all the modern commodities necessary for us Northern Europeans. All the while their Spanish neighbours are watching, shaking their heads.
Wild life, in the form of spiders, wild boars and scorpions; pets - whether dogs, cats or cockatoos; neighbourly courtesies, being over-the-fence exchange of produce or at special occasions, are all things anybody who has settled among the Spanish in a rural environment can relate to. Debs describes it with a wonderful sense of humour - aiming both at our peculiar set ways as well as our hosts'.
It is easy reading, full of humour and love for the Spanish way of live. I enjoyed reading it because it is the first book I have come across that I can relate to after 12 years of sharing my life with the Murcians. Maybe the biggest compliment the book can get, is that my husband, who is not into reading books, but ploughs through Spanish newspapers every day, is deeply engrossed in "Spiders and Wine" while I am writing this review of Debs' book.
Are you asking me to rate it? Okay, I have no other choice but to give it 5 stars. Read it - it is a true description of rural Murcian life from an expat's point of view!