Dark, Salt, Clear

Life in a Cornish Fishing Town - A BBC RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK

By: Lamorna Ash

Narrated by: Lamorna Ash

Bloomsbury presents Dark, Salt, Clear written and read by Lamorna Ash.

A BBC RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE WEEK
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.©2020 Lamorna Ash (P)2023 Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

Critic reviews

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 (Books of the Year)

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 (Oliver Balch)

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? (Richard Benson)

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 (Rachel Cooke)

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 (Philip Marsden)

[An] outstanding travel writing debut … If you love Cornwall for its beaches and photogenic fishing villages, you should read this captivating, true-to-life portrait of a place that, while angry and insular at times, is also fiercely proud and community-minded … Newlyn is a place with much to teach us in these times (Caroline Sanderson)

Beautifully written … [Ash is] an empathetic writer who sees poetry in the everyday … If you read this thoughtful and observant chronicle, you’ll never look at Cornwall in the same way again

Lamorna Ash is a beautiful prose stylist – precise, perceptive, humane and sensitive – who somehow manages to write in a way that is both earthy and poetic. Her debut book – full of fish and blood and salt and oilskins – marks the birth of a new star of non-fiction (William Dalrymple)

I love this town and I love this book – both are imbued with the unadorned lessons of hard earned lives (Mark Kurlansky)

With the heart of a novelist and the clarity of an ethnographer, Lamorna Ash reveals the Cornish fishing community of Newlyn in all its tension and hardship and wild joy. Dark, Salt, Clear is a book of deep immersion and a stunning debut (Philip Marsden)

Brilliant Writers Should Not Narrate

Many writers refuse to tell their stories aloud lest they assume the book has been written; rather than merely told. Ash writes evocative prose with a lilt and style. She is Melville come alive with character, depth, enchantment. She draws a picture that is colored with fauve, nuance and shades. However, even at 0.7 speed, she is incomprehensible to the American ear. What disaster when she snatches defeat from the joys of a first book. I had to cease at chapter four and await and great Audible reader, anyone to do justice to this magnificent work.

What an experience

Amazing to have this experience. I’m impressed at the ability to get approved to go out on the boats and the personal nerve to do it. Cool to have the author read it too.

This is a great memoir by a talented young writer

Lamorna Ash threw herself into the world of this fishing town. The book is poignant and insightful. Unlike some reviewers i found her accent and voice pleasant and easy to understand.

The one criticism I have is the terrible quality of the copy editing / fact checking. Every good writer deserves and needs someone to carefully go over their sentences and facts. Getting a few things wrong and throwing in some bad sentences is human. Failing to correct these things does a disservice to writer and readers. Lamorna Ash deserves better. Maybe for the paperback someone from Bloomsbury will try a little harder. It’s not brain surgery.

The reading by the author gave the book authenticity.

I liked it more than I expected, especially the fact that the author read it. Books are ways to experience life through different eyes. This one was exactly that.

Lamorna’s Connection

This is a wonderfully conceived and articulated memoir. How the sea and location of memory adds richness into personal history is communicated beautifully by Ms Ash.
After listening/reading this work I am left with more questions than answers which I believe was the authors intent. Much enjoyed!