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Homesick

Why I Live in a Shed

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Homesick

By: Catrina Davies
Narrated by: Catrina Davies
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About this listen

The story of a personal housing crisis that led to a discovery of the true value of home.

Aged 31, Catrina Davies was renting a box-room in a house in Bristol, which she shared with four other adults and a child. Working several jobs and never knowing if she could make the rent, she felt like she was breaking apart.

Homesick for the landscape of her childhood, in the far west of Cornwall, Catrina decides to give up the box-room and face her demons. As a child, she saw her family and their security torn apart; now, she resolves to make a tiny, dilapidated shed a home of her own.

With the freedom to write, surf and make music, Catrina rebuilds the shed and, piece by piece, her own sense of self. On the border of civilisation and wilderness, between the woods and the sea, she discovers the true value of home, while trying to find her place in a fragile natural world.

This is the story of a personal housing crisis and a country-wide one, grappling with class, economics, mental health and nature. It shows how housing can trap us or set us free, and what it means to feel at home. This audio edition includes music by Catrina Davies.

©2019 Catrina Davies (P)2019 Quercus Editions Limited Ecosystems & Habitats Law Nature & Ecology Outdoors & Nature Science Sustainable & Green Living

Critic Reviews

"You will marvel at the beauty of this book, and rage at the injustice it reveals." (George Monbiot)

"Incredibly moving. To find peace and a sense of home after a life so profoundly affected by the housing crisis, is truly inspirational." (Raynor Winn, best-selling author of The Salt Path)
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Beautifully read, I learned a lot reading this memoir. My favourite quote is that true success is how much free time you have.

A stunning book

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If you need a little pill to help you escape the matrix of every day capitalist mindset, this should work.

It gets a little dreary at points where the story turns more to a woe-is-me rant about the pains of millennials entering the overpriced housing market without selling their souls and best years to the corporate treadmill... But otherwise, lovely. The obvious power of the ocean and seaside environment pulls her into a journey of simple living and rugged comforts that I related to warmly.

Listen to it on a long coastal walk.

A great journey into a less capitalist ideal

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great listen, inspiring story to never give up and to take challenges in stride, values and lifestyles are very individual and it's wonderful

Very inspiring

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A good point of view of the housing crisis from a 'have nots' perspective. It should be a bit of a wake up call to the 'haves' & counsils & government. I liked the descriptions of the surrounding flora & fauna, & her getting the shed set up. I may have enjoyed it more if I'd read the book myself, as the narrator sounded a bit bored & unenthusiastic.

Interesting, but a bit slow in places

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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.