I could hardly believe my eyes. A cold mantle of white was rapidly transforming our sunny paradise into a bizarre winterscape of citrus Christmas trees, cotton wool palms and snowball oranges. When the Kerr family leave Scotland to grow oranges in a secluded valley on the island of Mallorca they are surprised to be greeted by the same freezing weather they have left behind. Then they realise that their new orange farm is a bit of a lemon… Laughter, finds Peter Kerr, is the best medicine when faced with a local dish of rats and the live-chicken-down-a-chimney technique of household maintenance. But their Mallorcan neighbours help them adapt to their new life. Snowball Oranges is hilarious and revealing, full of life and colour, set against the breathtaking beauty of the Mediterranean.
Snowball Oranges - One Mallorcan Winter
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Amazon Review
Like so many other Scottish farmers, Peter Kerr and his partner Ellie had passed many a bleak winter's evening "indulging in dreams of someday swapping the rigours of growing crops and raising cattle in the harsh Scottish climate" for the more idyllic option of a small farm in Spain. On the day their dream came true, when they finally moved into their Mallorcan farmhouse, 1500 miles southwards of Scotland, it snowed. But they were lucky to be there at all: Peter and Ellie discovered their new home after taking a wrong turning while on a summer holiday, instantly falling for its "white walls, faded wooden shutters and terracotta tiled roof" which "peeped sleepily over the deep green domes of orange trees, while the mountains looked benignly on". With prose as elegant as this, Snowball Oranges is one travel book that needs no illustrations. In fact it reads more like a novel, brimming with charming characters and good humour. "My drenched trousers clung uncomfortably to my legs," the author tells us following a mishap with a hose, "dredging up sorry memories of a once-familiar sensation that I hadn't experienced since my early days at infant school." By the time you reach the last page, you feel as though you are in the Mediterranean with them, and you don't want to go home.--Daren King
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
'Peter Kerr writes with a combination of nice observation and gentle humour' --The Sunday Times
'had me laughing out loud on my way to work' --Family Circle
'had me laughing out loud on my way to work' --Family Circle
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
26 of 26 people found the following review helpful
By "david_mac"
Format:Hardcover
This is a really warm book (no pun intended) and a departure from my normal reading menu (mostly sf/cult) so I was pleasantly surprised. I read it whilst on holiday in Spain and I couldn't have felt closer to the wonderfully human 'Señor' Peter, Ellie and all of the other characters that drop in on the way. Peter Kerr has done a fine job to mix dreamy descriptions of the *real* Mallorcan sensations alongside hilarious accounts of some of the incidents that befel him and his family.... I wont give anything away, but I found it difficult to put this down and read it in about three sittings. Suffice to say that you get a real feel - warts and all - for rural life on a mediterranean island, brought to life between your ears by the flowing prose.
Read it and see Mallorca in a new light. You never know, you may well end up feeling a little *tranquilo* yourself. My only criticism would be that I'd like to continue the journey and find out how things worked-out beyond the first winter. Lets hope there will be a follow-up - excellent stuff.
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Hardcover
Peter Kerr has a countryman's way with a story and a delightful eye for detail. Having been an ex-pat myself in Scotland, I know just how outlandish the natives can seem sometimes and the preposterous situations that really can occur. Unlike Peter Mayle's stories of Provence, the characters are described with warmth rather than condescension, and while Kerr's stories lack the lyrical poetry of Frances Mayes' tales of Tuscany, they have the cadence of fireside yarns, gentle, familiar and amusing.
A pleasant read.
26 of 27 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Hardcover
Having recently read lots of "uprooting and starting afresh in sunnier parts of the world" books, I was interested to see how this compared to "Driving over lemons" (another fun read) and Im pleased to say that I was not disappointed. Peter Kerr transported me to sunny Spain and enthralled me with his impressions of a new country, its people and its customs. Every experience was described so vividly, I felt like I was there too, basking in the sunshine, meeting the locals and enjoying the exotic food. I chuckled throughout and laughed out loud on many occasions (on the tube on the way home - much to my embarressment) and was disappointed that it ended so soon. I have to say, it was unputdownable. I really loved this book and am anxiously waiting for a sequel. Thank you Peter for a great read! Keep em coming!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
a great read
i really enjoyed this, felt like i was there with them myself. nice to indulge in fantasies about living in the sun
Published 11 days ago by dragon53
3.0 out of 5 stars
A bit too much artistic license
Interesting read but often a bit too lavishly embellished with 'artistic license'. I enjoyed the book but it didn't make me feel compelled to read the others in the 'series'.
Published 17 days ago by SARA WALKER
5.0 out of 5 stars
Snowball Oranges.......
Life in Spain on a smallholding.The family together find ways of having the dream that all could do what they really wanted wanted in he Sun.
Published 1 month ago by Yvonne Penny (Mrs)
4.0 out of 5 stars
A great relaxing read!
This is a lively and interesting account of a family`s move to a remote farmhouse in Mallorca, which evokes an all-too-brief, but piquant, taste of local culture and customs. Read more
Published 1 month ago by jennifer
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not the best I've read
It would have been good to have had a brief summary of why they ended up in Mallorca. The characters in the book weren't particularly well drawn and so I didn't warm to them. Read more
Published 2 months ago by AngieP857
4.0 out of 5 stars
Mallorcan Fun
After a slow start the story builds to an entertaining , speedy gallop telling of tales which can be pictured in your mind. Enjoyed more as it went on and sorry when it finished.
Published 3 months ago by David
5.0 out of 5 stars
Written in Technicolour
A great book. A Scottish farming family heading off to Mallorca to live & work on an orange farm.
Peter Kerr seems to capture not only the people they meet, but also the... Read more
Peter Kerr seems to capture not only the people they meet, but also the... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Jason
4.0 out of 5 stars
Worth reading
A lovely warm entertaining book that painted a beautiful and humorous picture of rural Mallorca. I was transported from a dreary UK winter to the families finca
Published 4 months ago by Heather Macleod
5.0 out of 5 stars
Real Live
Just like all of his books, this was well written, funny in places and interesting. Lighthearted read which gives you a real feel of the life he was living.
Published 5 months ago by L E Knox, Dunoon
3.0 out of 5 stars
Snowball Oranges
Downloaded this to my Kindle to read on holiday in Ibiza. It was a nice easy read, very funny in places and cost less than £1.00. A bargain!
Published 8 months ago by Virgo Lady
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