Shirley Deane (1) (1920–)

"Invading hordes of tourists, ever on the alert for new, unspoilt territories, will undoubtedly push on here in years to come",, October 23, 2015

This review is from: The road to Andorra (Hardcover)
Published in 1960, this is the account of the Australian writer's time with her artist husband and two young sons in Andorra and in Ibiza.
Both places are on the cusp of modern life: but as Deane describes the costumes and folklore, the Andorran boys taking the cows to pasture, the weekly excitement of the baker's van - you could be back in ancient times.
When husband Malcolm gets work on an Ibizan pig farm, they relocate - and here we have the comic tale of Deane's struggle to cross over to the isle with their large dog; attending a pig killing party, and a brief trip to neighbouring Formentera.
But when suddenly and unexpectedly ejected from Spain (one of her earlier works about Malaga had caused offence), they find themselves crossing back into Andorra and victims of a dastardly crime: finding a policeman was "no easy task in a country where the total force including the standing army, numbers twelve."...
Entertaining little work, giving a picture of two relatively unknown places as life once was.… (mais)

Shirley Deane, her husband Malcolm, and their sons decided to go and live a short while in Andorra. Malcolm was a painter. Andorra is very mountainous, and there were very few cars there at the time the family lived there. The family grew accustomed to walking through the mountains and valleys to go shopping, for entertainment, and just about anything else. They lived mainly off the land although they were able to make occasional bread purchases when the baker made his weekly delivery to the village. They were beginning to settle in for the long winter when they expected to be snowed in when Malcolm received an offer to manage a pig farm on Ibiza, an island off the coast of Spain. They spent some time along the coast of the island and on a neighboring island as well. After they had been there about a year, some American reviews of a prior book Shirley had written caused the family to be expelled from Spain. None of their efforts to stop it were successful because the banishment came from a high official. The family went back to Andorra and then back to England. I found this to be one of the more engaging travel narratives that I've read recently. At many points I found myself wondering if the country of Andorra was more modernized now or if he still held some of the rustic charm described in the book. There's quite a bit of humor in the pages as one pictures her trying to travel with her dog and in other situations. I found myself wanting to find the book that caused her banishment, along with the American reviews of it!… (mais)

"Wherever you're at, be all there," my mother's grandfather often told her. Australians Shirley Deane, her husband, Malcolm, and young sons, Christopher and Michael, did just that--first in Andorra, then in Ibiza. In both places, the family lived among the locals rather than in tourist enclaves, and whole-heartedly adjusted themselves to the local customs and pace of life.

In Andorra, Malcolm, a painter, helped their landlord plow in exchange for garden produce. When money was available, the baker could be asked to make purchases on their behalf and bring them to the village with his weekly bread delivery. When money was short, the family lived off the land, feasting on wild mushrooms, squirrel, and bread with jam made from berries the family gathered. Just like the Andorrans, they walked up and down the mountains and valleys to go shopping in town, to attend festivals, or to walk just for the pleasure of walking. In this mountainous country, life was governed by the seasons, and preparations had to be made for winter when people and animals alike would be snowed in for two or three months. Shirley's family was all set for winter when Malcolm was offered an opportunity to manage a pig farm in Ibiza, and off they went.

In Ibiza, the family divided their time between an apartment near the shore and a farm in the interior. The farmhouse required renovation to make it inhabitable, and crops needed to be planted and harvested to provide fodder for the pigs that were to be raised on the farm. Once again the family threw themselves into local life and customs, and consequently they were accepted as part of the local community.

Not once in the whole book did the author express any homesickness for another place, or a longing for some luxury that wasn't available in either country. Given some of the circumstances described in the book, this is remarkable. Although the author includes negative things as well as positive things about both societies, she does it without denigrating either the location or the people. She must have been a naturally curious person who focused on the environment and the people around her rather than on herself. Her analysis of local history and culture is equal to that of an anthropologist.

Whether she is making a long journey from Andorra to France to pick up a parcel that couldn't be delivered to an Andorran post office, or traveling across Spain by train, taxi, and boat with the family dog, the author manages to find humor in difficult situations. This book reminds me of Betty MacDonald's books, especially my favorite, The Egg and I. If her other books are anything like this, I'll want to read them all. Unfortunately, they all appear to be out of print. Not to worry. Finding a few out of print books will be a lot easier (and probably quite a bit cheaper) than traveling with a dog through Spain!… (mais)