Another delightful travel book by the master

The Tomb in Seville is an account of a journey Norman Lewis made in l934 with his Sicilian brother-in-law Eugene Corvaja. Their destination was the cathedral in Seville, site of the Corvaja family tomb. Things, of course, do not go quite according to plan.

Spain is on the brink of civil war, and the travellers soon discover that no trains are running. They walk a hundred miles on foot, sleeping in caves, and seeing parts of Spain no tourist had ever visited. By the time they reach Madrid, bullets are flying, and the travellers are forced to dodge sniper fire as they go about their daily business. Eugene by now has revealed his Communist sympathies and Lewis, in loco parentis, has a hard job dissuading him from volunteering for the People's Army. Forced to take a detour into Portugal, they come across a village where a witch has recently been burnt at the stake, before at last arriving in Seville. There they find the Corvaja tomb, but it is not quite what they expected.

The Tomb in Seville is vintage Norman Lewis.