Voices of the Old SeaPaperback, 4 November 2013

After WWII was over, Norman Lewis settled in a remote fishing village on the Catalan coast. A place where men regulated their lives by the sardine shoals of spring and autumn and the tunny fishing of the summer, where women kept goats and gardens, arranged marriages, and made ends meet. They were deeply suspicious of all foreigners and consumed by the interest of their own ancient feuds and rituals, annual festivals, and amicable rivalries. Yet Norman Lewis managed to win their trust and was able to record through anecdote and incident the lives of a proud, self-sufficient, and poetic people, just before they were submerged by the concrete tourism developments of the Costa Brava.