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Books

Christopher Howse takes the slow train in Spain — and writes a classic

The author veers off the beaten track, and we are the richer for it

2 November 2013

9:00 AM

2 November 2013

9:00 AM

The Train in Spain Christopher Howse

Bloomsbury, pp.244, £16.99

This is probably not a book for those whose interest in Spain gravitates towards such contemporary phenomena as the films of Pedro Almodóvar, Barcelona Football Club or the fashion retailer Zara. Nor, as far as trains go, is it a volume for people fascinated by the engineering feats of Spain’s new high-speed AVE train system, which means that you can travel from Madrid to Seville in just over two hours, or from Madrid to Barcelona in less than three (rather amazing, when you recall that the old service used to take nine hours).

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Harry Eyres writes the Financial Times’s ‘Slow lane’ column. His most recent book is Horace and Me.

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