Everything Passes, Everything Remains: Freewheeling through Spain, Song and Memory

By Chris Dolan

How would any of us feel if we could meet our 16-year-old selves, a ghost on the road?This book is a confluence of journeys, made by Chris, his friends, and writers before him – especially Laurie Lee and the long walk he began one midsummer morn. It’s a bit about cycling, a bit about walking, and a bit about buses. It’s definitely about Spain, but a little bit about Scotland, too. It’s a kind of travelogue, over time, and through some lesser-known parts of Spain. It’s an obsession with Spain’s poets and its history, from the Inquisition to the Civil War and to its current ‘interesting times’. But mostly it’s about growing up and growing older. About friendship, loss, music, writing. And it’s about memory, and the tricks it plays. This is a shared memoir of how the journeys began and how they all ended, threaded with stories, histories, verses and short reflections. Freewheeling through Spain, Song and Memory.

Reviews of Everything Passes, Everything Remains: Freewheeling through Spain, Song and Memory

Praise for Chris Dolan's writing: "A powerful, disturbing tale written with scrupulous care for words and their hidden meanings" Independent; "An illuminating, sparkling crash course in events and ideas that shaped Glasgow and Europe for decades." History Scotland Review