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Rural
- The Lives of the Working Class Countryside
- Narrated by: Rebecca Smith
- Length: 7 hrs and 37 mins
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Rural
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Summary
‘Revelatory’ THE SCOTSMAN
‘Eye-opening and persuasive’ SUNDAY TIMES
‘Brilliant … I loved it’ KIT DE WAAL
‘Thoughtful, moving, honest’ CAL FLYN
Work in the countryside ties you, soul and salary, to the land. But often those who labour in nature have the least control over what happens there.
In this beautifully observed book, Rebecca Smith traces the stories of foresters and millworkers, miners, builders, farmers and pub owners, to paint a picture of the working class lives that often go overlooked.
Living in rural areas means being surrounded by natural beauty, but for many it also demands hard work, precarity, fewer opportunities and – increasingly – being pushed out of the place your family might have called home for generations. In Rural, Rebecca Smith brings together the reasons we all love nature with the histories of life in its midst, and a prescient look at the dynamics for rural areas today. Why are our farmers struggling to make a profit on a pint of milk? What has Airbnb done to small communities in places like the Lake District?
In a gorgeous tour of Scotland, England and Wales, this is a book for anyone who loves and longs for the countryside, whose family owes something to a bygone trade, or who is interested in the future of rural Britain.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
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What listeners say about Rural
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- mark
- 14-06-23
Lovely & thought provoking
A lovely thought provoking book that give real insight into the rural world of the custodians of the countryside. Not your typical rose tinted rendering of idiotic life of the rural elite. But a truthful and honest statement about the history behind rural community and the way it shaped the authors life.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 15-06-23
Thoroughly interesting, enjoyable and absorbing.
This brilliant personable book will take you through the people and places of rural Britain.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Elizabeth Anne Nicholson
- 25-09-23
Loved listening to Rural.
It brought back so many memories and made them too. Well done Rebecca Smith.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- melfish
- 02-07-23
Well observed, described and narrated
A good argument to encourage land ownership and stewardship in rural areas, I enjoyed the autobiographical story.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Anne
- 26-11-23
Wonderful insight into a rural childhood
Rebecca really captures the beauty and harshness of a country upbringing. What you gain with a relationship with nature and what it means to work living in a tied house to the job. Very insightful and thorough. Great talking points on landscape comparisons : town or country?
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 09-07-23
A disappointing read
I found the book rather disjointed. It was more like a selection of essays, some much more engaging than others. The best were those discussing the author’s own life. The narrator (who also is the author) has a very strange jerky way of reading, splitting the sentences in odd places which makes it a difficult listen.
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