The prospect Smiler was a manic farmer. Few men I think can have been as unfortunate as he; for on the one hand he was a melancholic with a loathing for mankind, on the other, some paralysis had twisted his mouth into a permanent and radiant smile. So everyone he met, being warmed by his smile, would shout him a happy greeting. And beaming upon them with his sunny face he would curse them all to hell.

S. Early life and works
Having been born in Stroud Lee moved with his family to the village of Slad in 1917 the move with which Cider with Rosie opens. Works
Books
Land at War (1945)
An Obstinate Exile (1951)
A Rose for Winter: Travels in Andalusia (1955)
Man Must Move: The Story of Transport (with David Lambert) (1960); publiLaurie Leed in the U.

Laurence Edward Alan "Laurie" Lee MBE (26 June 1914 – 13 May 1997) was an English poet novelist and screenwriter raised in the village of Slad and went to Marling School Gloucestershire. The first volume recounts his childhood in the Slad Valley. The second deals with his leaving home for London and his first visit to Spain in 1935 and the third with his return to Spain in December 1937 to join the Republican International Brigades.