nitroglycerin's Reviews (952)

An often overlooked aspect of nature writing - the people who live and work in rural areas that aren’t farmers! 

Smith covers various aspects and industries in rural life, each chapter taking its title from one aspect (eg textiles, tourism etc. I enjoyed how Smith wove her personal history of rural life with factual history and the modern situation. 

Worthy of it Wainwright prize consideration indeed. 

It feels wrong to rate someone’s memoir as always so my rating is based on how much I connected and my expectations vs experience. 

I struggled with the first few chapters of the book, so I then left it for a few weeks before returning and listening at 1.5 speed to just “get it done” (I usually only listen at 1.2 so that’s fast for me!). The more I listened the more I liked though.