Driving Over Lemons

Over two decades ago we set up Sort of Books to help our friend, the some-time Genesis drummer Chris Stewart, bring his sunlit stories of life on a Spanish mountain farm to print. Ever the optimist, Chris hoped to earn enough money to buy a second-hand tractor for his farm. He got his tractor, as the book spent a year on the Sunday Times Top 10 charts and went on to sell a million and a half copies.

His story is a classic. A dreamer and an itinerant sheep shearer, he moves with his wife Ana to a mountain farm in Las Alpujarras, an oddball region in the south of Spain. Misadventures gleefully unfold as Chris discovers that the owner had no intention of leaving. He meets their neighbours, an engaging mix of farmers, shepherds and New Age travellers, and their daughter Chloe is born, linking them irrevocably to their new life. The hero of the piece, however, is the farm itself - a patch of mountain studded with olive, almond and lemon groves, sited on the wrong side of a river, with no access road, water supply or electricity. Could life offer much better than that?

Chris Stewart is one of life's bold originals Independent
When an author is as modest and humorous as this, his story cannot be told too often. -- Elizabeth Buchan The Times
Exquisite. In Driving Over Lemons the anecdote flourishes once more. -- Penelope Lively Daily Telegraph
It is easy to enthuse about the simple pleasures of life, but hard to write about them well. Stewart's gift is to do so with the carefree manner of someone you've just met in a bar, and who is buying the drinks. -- Hugh Thomson Independent
A wonderful book - funny, affectionate and reaching deep beneath the skin. Tuck it into your holiday luggage and dream -- Elisabeth Luard Daily Mail
A funny, observant and personal account of what a man can learn, and what there is to appreciate in life. Marvellous -- John S. Doyle Sunday Tribune
You just can't fail to like him and the world he spreads out for you: wayward sheep, eccentric ex-pats, hospitable (and slightly barmy) neighbours... Mr Stewart is that rare thing, the real McCoy -- Rosie Boycott Guardian
Endearing, heart warming, self-deprecating, sometimes surreal... charming stuff -- William Leith Standard

Chris Stewart shot to fame with Driving Over Lemons, which became an international bestseller, as did its sequels, A Parrot in the Pepper Tree, The Almond Blossom Appreciation Society and The Last Days of the Bus Club. Chris had prepared for life on his Spanish mountain farm with jobs of doubtful relevance. He was the original drummer in Genesis (he played on the first album), then joined a circus, learnt how to shear sheep, went to China to write the Rough Guide, gained a pilot's license in Los Angeles, and crewed a sailing boat across the Atlantic (a story told in his book, Three Ways to Capsize a Boat). Everyone always wants to know if Chris and Ana are still living on their farm, El Valero. Of course they are! Along with numerous dogs, cats, chickens and sheep.

Special Anniversary Edition (with new chapter 25 years on). Over two decades ago we set up Sort of Books to help our friend, the some-time Genesis drummer Chris Stewart, bring his sunlit stories of life on a Spanish mountain farm to print. Ever the optimist, Chris hoped to earn enough money to buy a second-hand tractor for his farm. He got his tractor, as the book spent a year on the Sunday Times Top 10 charts and went on to sell a million and a half copies. His story is a classic. A dreamer and an itinerant sheep shearer, he moves with his wife Ana to a mountain farm in Las Alpujarras, an oddball region in the south of Spain. Misadventures gleefully unfold as Chris discovers that the owner had no intention of leaving. He meets their neighbours, an engaging mix of farmers, shepherds and New Age travellers, and their daughter Chloe is born, linking them irrevocably to their new life. The hero of the piece, however, is the farm itself - a patch of mountain studded with olive, almond and lemon groves, sited on the wrong side of a river, with no access road, water supply or electricity. Could life offer much better than that?

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