Dark, Salt, Clear
- Author Lamorna Ash
- Narrator Lamorna Ash
- Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing
- Run Time 10 hours and 48 minutes
- Format Audio
- Genre Anthropology, Biography and non-fiction prose, Coastlines, European history, Fisheries and related industries, Fishing, angling, History, Memoirs, Nature and the natural world: general interest, Places and peoples: general and pictorial works, Rural communities, Society and Social Sciences, Sports and Active outdoor recreation, The Earth: natural history: general interest, Travel and holiday, Travel and holiday guides, Travel writing, Wildlife: aquatic creatures: general interest.
Titles Purchased
- 1-5
- 6-10
- 11-15
- 16-20
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Price p/Title
- €9.95
- €8.95
- €7.95
- €6.95
- €5.95
Listen to a sample
What to expect
SHORTLISTED FOR THE WAINWRIGHT PRIZE
'A bracing account of discovery ... Glistens with deftly told snippets and character-rich stories' Financial Times
'Marks the birth of a new star of non-fiction' William Dalrymple
A captivating, lyrical and deeply discerning portrait of life in the Cornish town of Newlyn, the largest working fishing port in Britain, from a brilliant debut writer
There is the Cornwall Lamorna Ash knew as a child – the idyllic, folklore-rich place where she spent her summer holidays. Then there is the Cornwall she discovers when, feeling increasingly dislocated in London, she moves to Newlyn, a fishing town near Land’s End. This Cornwall is messier and harder; it doesn’t seem like a place that would welcome strangers.
Before long, however, Lamorna finds herself on a week-long trawler trip with a crew of local fishermen, afforded a rare glimpse into their world, their warmth and their humour. Out on the water, miles from the coast, she learns how fishing requires you to confront who you are and what it is that tethers you to the land. But she also realises that this proud and compassionate community, sustained and defined by the sea for centuries, is under threat, living in the lengthening shadow cast by globalisation.
An evocative journey of personal discovery replete with the poetry and deep history of our fishing communities, Dark, Salt, Clear confirms Lamorna Ash as a strikingly original new voice.
Critics Review
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Ash gets to the salty heart of why [commercial fishing] still matters, not just to the communities in Cornwall it sustains, but for the richness and cultural heritage it represents … Beyond the beauty of her prose, Ash’s great strength lies in her ability to capture a sense of place
Sunday Times -
Part coming-of-age memoir, part anthropological study, Dark, Salt, Clear glistens with deftly told snippets and character-rich stories … Cornwall’s harbourside cottages and ragged cliffs may look picturesque, but they hide an unsettling “anger and insularity”, she argues. With graceful lyricism and endearing humility, Ash gives this rage both voice and face
Financial Times -
Terrific … A hugely moving but unsentimental account of not only today’s fishermen but also a salty, grafting, real-life England too rarely depicted in literature … It is well-timed, feels rather important, and has excellent tips on the filleting of fish. What more could you want?
Mail on Sunday -
Lamorna Ash conjures a remarkable sense of place, her book deftly woven with a profound empathy for the people she encounters, as well as great literature, past and present. I loved this book
Sophy Roberts, author of 'The Lost Pianos of Siberia' -
One of Spring’s most hotly anticipated titles
Observer -
A beautiful account of immersion in an alien world – the tightly bound fishing community of Newlyn … Spending weeks with fishermen on small fishing boats, and amid their equally turbulent shore life, Ash offers a sharp and poignant portrait of men living an intense and peripheral existence
Guardian
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