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  • Dark, Salt, Clear

  • Life in a Cornish Fishing Town
  • By: Lamorna Ash
  • Narrated by: Lamorna Ash
  • Length: 10 hrs and 47 mins
  • 4.3 out of 5 stars (7 ratings)

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Dark, Salt, Clear

By: Lamorna Ash
Narrated by: Lamorna Ash
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Publisher's Summary

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

A BBC Radio 4 book of the week

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)2020 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

Critic Reviews

"Lamorna Ash evokes the vigour and complexity of the country’s westernmost fishing port with a love only a granite heart could resist. As Cornwall’s fishing and farming communities hold their breath to see whether leaving the EU will save or savage them, Dark, Salt, Clear arrives at the perfect time and should be cherished by natives, incomers and emmets alike." (Patrick Gale)

"Marks the birth of a new star of non-fiction." (William Dalrymple) 

"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)

What listeners say about Dark, Salt, Clear

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A lighthouse glow

Thank you and congratulations Lamorna, for this wonderfully rich story. Loved the extensive research you have done, drawing a wealth of information into this captivating story in Cornwall. The people and history, for sharing such a special part of your life with us. Steinbeck would be proud of you. Your story is like a lighthouse beacon drawing us in, then illuminating time and place, while artfully expressing events, that many would find hard to put into words. You nailed it.
Kind regards Jennifer

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Absorbing

loved this book. visceral descriptions of what it's like on a fishing boat, and to live in a fishingtown. sincere and worthwhile.

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An extraordinary piece of writing

Feeling a bit lost after finishing this wonderful book. Lamorna writes so beautifully - and in such a range of contexts. I literally feel as though I’ve been there in Newlyn with her. She has opened up a whole world. Read this book!

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In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.