Undercurrent: A Cornish Memoir of Poverty, Nature and Resilience

by Natasha Carthew

There's a Cornish saying that nothing is left behind in an autumnal tide, the powerful tug between the sun and the equator makes the water surface stronger, and it pulls and builds until we are left with what is known as great tides - but as I stand here on my childhood beach someplace in my 40s, all I can see is the stretch of grey rocks and sand where the ebb has come and gone. Natasha Carthew grew up in rural poverty in Cornwall, battling limited opportunities, precarious resources, escalating property prices, isolation and a community marked by the ravages of inequality. Her world existed alongside the postcard picture Cornwall, where wealth and privilege converged on sandy beaches and expensive second homes. In the rockpools and hedgerows of the natural world, Natasha found solace in the beauty of the landscape, and in the mobile library she found her means of escape. In her first non-fiction book she returns to the cliff-paths of her childhood, determined to make sense of an upbringing shaped by political neglect and a life defined by the beauty of nature. Undercurrent is part-memoir, part-investigation, part love-letter to Cornwall. It is a vivid, powerful exploration of rural poverty, and the often devastating impact of living without the means or support to build a future. This is a journey through place, and a story of hope, beauty, and fierce resilience.

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir, Nature, Poverty, Class

267 pages, Hardcover

Published April 13, 2023

About the author

Natasha Carthew is a working-class writer from Cornwall. She is published by Hodder, Bloomsbury, Quercus and the National Trust. Her new book Undercurrent: A Cornish Memoir of Poverty, Nature and Resilience, is out now with Coronet/Hodder.

She is known for writing on Socioeconomic issues and working-class representation in literature for several publications and programmes; including The Booker Prize Foundation, ITV, Writers’ & Artists’ Yearbook, The Royal Society of Authors Journal, BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 4, The Bookseller, The Guardian, The Observer, Mslexia, The Dark Mountain Project, The Big Issue and The Economist. Natasha guest edited the working-class edition of The Bookseller (Nov 2022) and is recipient of The Bookseller Rising Star Award 2022.

Natasha is Founder and Artistic Director of The Working Class Writers Festival and The Nature Writing Prize for Working Class Writers in association with Octopus/Hachette.
She is represented by Juliet Pickering at Blake Friedman Literary Agency.

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

Natasha Carthew is Cornish born and bred. Her family have a long history in the county too and were responsible for building most of the village that she was born and grew up in. She no longer lives there for a number of reasons the most significant is that she is not in a financial position to be able to afford a property there. There are villages now where no locals live, they are all owned by rich people with second homes or people who let them to the influx of summer visitors.

She had everything going against her growing up, poor female and also gay, she was one of the disposed people in the poorest county in the UK. They lived off her mum’s income, as her dad considered anything that he earnt to just be for him. He wasn’t around much either, having ducked responsibilities he was a womaniser and always had a girlfriend or two, one of whom moved into the flat above them with him at one point!

Her mum was resourceful and resilient though, always ensuring that Carthew and her sister were fed and looked after. They managed to move into the village to a slightly larger home, which helped a little. School was a struggle, mostly because she couldn’t see the point, but the chance finding of a leaflet with a course that really appealed to give her a path out of the vicious poverty circle she found herself in.

She went to the very edge of the abyss several times and the thing that kept her here then is the same thing that keeps her sane now and that is her writing

This is not an easy book to read by any means, it is an emotionally charged book full of raw prose and revelations of her upbringing. The is as much a personal memoir as it is a critique of the way that the Cornish have been abandoned by the UK government. High property prices because of the influx of second homeowners combined with low seasonal wages mean that most people born in Cornwall cannot afford to live there now. Whilst Carthew has come to terms with not being able to live in the place she chooses, many in the county are being forced out. It would be nice to think that those in power would read a book like this, but I somehow doubt they will. If you have read Lowborn by Kerry Hudson then this should be on your reading list too.

[Sophy H · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

A very visceral memoir from Natasha Carthew about growing up in Cornwall as a working class kid in an impoverished household with a largely absent father.

Carthew does a great job of breaking down poverty in coastal communities, the decimation of Cornwall by rich incomers, inequality, lack of resources and opportunities for kids in coastal Cornwall, the risk of alcohol, drug use and self harm in young adults and many more issues, all whilst recalling her own childhood dealing with these exact same things.

Carthew pulls no punches and the writing is brutally honest whilst being incredibly poetic. At times it does run the risk of veering into the "misery porn" lane, but she manages to claw it back by addressing the nature and resilience aspects of the book's title.

Whilst the author addresses many of the issues mentioned above, sadly until there is a moratorium on buying second homes in coastal communities, or using second homes as summer lets/long lets/AirBnb's, nothing will change in Cornwall and young people born and bred there will continue to be priced out.

A very good book but I'm still questioning if I'm likely to return to read in the future? Jury is still out on that one.

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to #Netgalley and #HodderandStoughton for granting me access to this arc for an honest review.

Natasha Carthew lifts the lid on what it's like to live in semi-rural Cornwall on a low income. She thrives on her love of nature and close proximity to the sea.
In the background, she dwells on her difficult childhood, raised by her mother with an absent father. At times, this is a moving account of a family holding on, to survive together.
Each chapter raises different issues of living in poverty in a deprived, rural community. Some parts make for difficult reading but Carthew should be heeded. She makes valid points on isolation, loneliness, lack of opportunities, alcohol/drug abuse and the impacts these issues have on health and wellbeing.

It's a necessary read to comprehend the numerous issues that affect our contemporary society. We need to know why poverty exists and how to create a society that is fair for all.

Highly recommended.

[Elainedav · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book immediately following another memoir of an author. That book was inspiring, detailing lots of difficult scenarios but always with a positive, hopeful outlook. This book wasn't like that. The whole 'undercurrent' was negative and bitter in my opinion. It's tricky, because the author's story is an important part of our society today. I love Cornwall, but you can't fail to notice the poverty as you drive through the towns and villages. It is a sad fact that housing has been snapped up for second homes, pushing house prices up and leaving the locals unable to afford housing in the area they grew up. This needs to be written about, but it isn't unique to Cornwall, it is happening in other areas of our country too.

I also felt that the author was trying to say that only in rural areas are children and teenagers denied facilities and opportunities for activities outside of school. But that isn't the case either. There are plenty of children in cities who lack the stimulation of anything other than home and school, for a variety of reasons.

So my rating for this book was three star because I felt it lacked balance. I am one of the 'emmetts' described in the narrative - a tourist who frequently returns to the area. I like to think that by visiting and holidaying there I am contributing to the local economy. There must be something positive to say about this surely?

Finally, the importance of poetry to the author was a repeating theme throughout. It would have been lovely to have snippets or even whole poems added at intervals throughout the book. But there are none - what a shame.

This book is a brutally honest account of the author's difficult time during her childhood and teenage years. It is reasonably well written but I wish the love for nature and Cornwall were a more prominent theme.

Thank you to NetGalley for an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Julie Tombs · Rating 4 out of 5]

The writing in this memoir is almost poetic. I was recommended this book as it is set in a Cornish Village near where I live and the writer is very descriptive about places I know well. She was born in the 70s and grew up poor in a Cornish rural village whilst rich emmets or incomers buy up houses in the area pushing local people out.

It is a comment on the social economic background of Cornish farm workers and low paid local people and the resentment felt towards the monied rich who move from elsewhere. Although poor in material goods the underlying theme is the beauty of the Cornish coast and countryside and how much it is valued by those who have little else. It talks of the depression and poverty whilst also lauding the resilience of those who manage to carve a life out for themselves in the South West.

Great book.

[Claire Wright · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book tries to be really literary but just comes over as pretentious. The genuine story gets buried within an endlessly repetitive misery memoir where everything is the fault of the middle class or the rich.

[Ken Sampson · Rating 4 out of 5]

[07 Jun 2024 PB] This relatively short memoir tells the story of a Cornish girl growing up in the 1980s in south east Cornwall. It is an easy read, very well written with beautiful description, characterisation and prose. Her writing skill shines through on each page. She clearly has mastery of the language and her writing is a joy to read. Her childhood was one of poverty, domestic disharmony, and neglect. It was compounded by the rural nature of her village and the tremendous amount of poverty of ambition in all those around her. Many of her experiences are shared by those who grew up in rural Cornwall, or indeed any rural location, but responses to those experiences varied, with many choosing a more sanguine, pragmatic response. It's brutally honest in places and often not comfortable reading.

There are some content issues that grate a bit, but none alienate you from the story or the author. The constant use of the words 'poverty' and 'working class' (almost every page in places) started to feel over the top, so her family did not have a lot of money and had to work at wherever they could, and had limited regular income. However this seemed to be largely because her fickle father, who preferred to spend whatever he earned on booze at the local. She continues the 'rural poverty underpins every aspect of unmet need' trope and repetitively blames the government etc. The injustice of a neglectful father who ignored her and her mother who once shot of the father - met new-man, had new child, moved to new house, and seemingly struggled with old child from old father were told well. Her references at the end it must be said are mostly from pressure-groups, charities, or left-lending media, so one is left with no doubt about her socialist principles.

The other slight issue I have is the often used Cornish language words, absolutely fine to be proud of Cornish heritage, but as a Cornishman I can confidently says these words were not in common use in the 1980s as stated.

Many of her struggles appear externalised, lack of money, lack of government services, lack of local housing, lack of transport, understandably easier to blame than her parental gifted lack of motivation, aspiration or personal drive. There is also a confusion or blurring of issues with adolescent angst or developmental transitions and political realities. Teenagers in towns and cities will experience isolation - it has nothing to do with trees or fields or buses, but is a healthy component of individuation. The teenage struggle with emerging sexuality in the 1980s is sensitively described, but seems to have been reflected upon through a possible 21st century prism.

The other issue for me was the (I think) inappropriate use of the word trauma. Now I totally accept that these days people are what people say they are, but it needs to be noted that trauma was traditionally a word reserved for events usually outside human experience. What she describes seemed to me, and I in no way would wish to minimise her experiences, to be upset, distress, dysfunction, etc There is a fly-away shocking reference to 'a rape' but then nothing more.

Discovering her passion and after dangerous soul-searching her inner get-up-and-go was brilliantly told and leaves her on an upbeat note. One suspects there is more to come here and I have to say such a well written story of Cornwall written by a Cornish woman is such as rare treasure that the book immediately becomes a significant 'stand-out' in the crowded 'English middle class moved to Cornish idyll field'. A great read thoroughly recommended.

[Snoakes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Undercurrent is Natasha Carthew's story of growing up in and eventually escaping from rural poverty.

For her memoir, she returns to Downderry, a coastal village in southeast Cornwall. Standing on the beach, she lets the wind, the sand and the salt seaspray scour her to the bone. Then she turns inland, to face the flat where she spent her first few years and starts to tell her tale.

"Bad memories are big, but they are mostly two-dimensional, like scenes in a movie watched over and over again. Good memories are always small, like trinket gifts of blue sea-glass, heart-shaped stones and exotic shells. They are beautiful precious things hidden in the lining of a forgotten childhood pocket. I am here to confront the bad, to press play all over again so that I might rediscover the good and pause the moments that somehow got lost in the sand."

As well as telling her own story, she looks at the situation today, incorporating current statistics and reports into the text. Shockingly, but perhaps unsurprisingly, in many cases nothing has improved, and often things have got worse since her childhood in the 70s and 80s. If all you know of Cornwall is the picture postcard views, the beaches and quaint fishing villages, the level of deprivation and lack of opportunity will be startling. Those of us who live and work here are far too aware. Rural poverty brings its own unique challenges - lack of access to services, transport, housing. From bitter experience, Natasha Carthew knows about them all.

What she did have growing up however, was nature. Nature and the mobile library. The beach, with its rockpools and hidden caves was her playground, but books were her portal to other worlds, other experiences. Words, finally, were her means of escape. And their importance shines through in her beautiful and evocative prose. Even when she is describing the deprivation and desperation of her early years, every word is considered and placed with a poet's precision.

It's an incredible memoir, elemental and raw. Fierce, unrelenting and vital, it's a love song to Cornwall and the natural world and an angry roar for change.

[Gail · Rating 4 out of 5]

Natasha Carthew was born into poverty in a picture postcard Cornish village. This is a savage, visceral read as she rails against the economic climate and in particular second home owners who have condemned rural communities in parts of Cornwall to virtual ghettos of dead end jobs and bleak winters.

Her father was unreliable to say the least, moving upstairs with a girlfriend at one point. Finally freed of him, Natasha's mother moved her two daughters into a row of terraced houses which were looked down upon by the wealthier residents of Seaton.

Carthew was possessive of the beach and shore, finding beauty in the wonders of nature. Her writing is quite spell binding as she describes the hold the sea has on her, and the way it shapes the landscape.

It's a redemptive story. Carthew is committed to making art, despite her disadvantages, and it's a rallying cry to those who grew up pushed to the margins. Published on 13 April. Thanks to Hodder & Stoughton and NetGalley for the advance reader copy.

[Catmo · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did enjoy this book- knowing as I did all the places the author describes . It has an excellent point to
make - all the more so with the autobiographical aspect. But oh does it weaken that point with the endless repetition- all that with a bit of editing could have been cut. Why oh why did the editor not go in hard.? Would have improved it no end.

[R · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bleak.

[Chantal Lyons · Rating 5 out of 5]

'Undercurrent' does not make for easy reading, whether there is trauma in your past or not. It is dark, shot through with beams of light and softness.

The memoir focuses on Carthew's childhood and teenagehood. Among its powerful themes are an abusive and mostly absent father, being queer in an environment hostile to difference, poverty, and the bonds of female community. The author does not romanticise the Cornish countryside of her home; at times she revels in it, and at others, she seems to reject it.

Scattered between the recollections of Carthew's youth are brief and highly salient sections on the state of poverty in Cornwall and other rural places; unsurprisingly, many metrics of deprivation have worsened since the Covid-19 pandemic, especially when it comes to the health and wellbeing of children. This is a book that exemplifies what 'lived experience' really means.

If I had to make one criticism, it would be that the language is repetitive in places, with the author frequently talking about her own wildness. But there is an honesty to her writing. It is uncompromising.

A book that deserves to be read widely.

(With thanks to Hodder & Stoughton and NetGalley for this ebook in exchange for an honest review)

[Madelyn Postman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This poetically-written memoir is starkly honest, portraying the experience of growing up poor, and gay, in Cornwall. It shares a point of view less commonly seen than that of tourists, who can easily romanticise the seaside, and who may have second homes which force out the locals. Carthew weaves in facts about present-day Cornwall, illustrating how many of the disparities between rich and poor have only gotten worse in recent years.

Undercurrent is a poignant book that places the reader squarely in Carthew's childhood, from her earliest memories to when she started college.

Community is indispensable to Carthew, who now champions and promotes working class writers.

[J A Richardson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting read. I enjoyed the nature aspect of her writing especially as I know the places where it was set. She raises a lot of good points about rural poverty and its effects on all aspects of life especially aspirations. She wrote movingly of her difficult home life but also of the strong community around her when the family moved to a council estate. Her descriptions and explorations of her teenage years were depressing to read but I was so pleased that education was her saviour.

[Eleanor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredibly moving poem, tracing the undercurrents of Carthew's childhood: poverty and domestic violence in the radiance of Whitsand Bay. As much memoir, as critique of the UK government's ongoing disregard of rural Cornish communities. Words, it seems, are what lift her above the undercurrent of her complicated childhood - and, always, hold within them the hope for something otherwise, beyond the waves.

[Michelle Marie McGrath · Rating 4 out of 5]

A poetically written, lyrical and poignant account of growing up in a working class family in Cornwall and the challenges involved. The inclusion of regional statistics about poverty and disadvantage in rural communities is a disturbing eye opener. As someone from a working class childhood who lives in Cornwall (but was not born here) I'm always fascinated by women's stories. It's important to understand the realities of life in Cornwall for Cornish people, particularly in a place which is so mythologised. A thought-provoking read.

[✰matthew✰ · Rating 3 out of 5]

i liked this book and appreciated the authors complete honesty. the writing style was great, you can tell the author writes poetry.

but i found it repetitive, perhaps this was to provide emphasis, i’m not sure and somewhat one sided.

[Clare · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully written memoir, while at the same time harsh hitting. Natascha writes with the ocean & nature at her core & it is mesmerising. Also based near to home, so good to have a local perspective & an alternative view of this area & the underlying hardship of poverty.

[Amory · Rating 1 out of 5]

Page after page of whining and whinging about the challenges everyone faces.

The majority of us just deal with life in silence and without pity-seeking.

[K · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.75, a little repetitive.

[Char Harrison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stunning and a must read

[Jennifer Bridge · Rating 3 out of 5]

The written book is much better than the audiobook which suffers from the author’s monotone delivery.

[George Foord · Rating 2 out of 5]

As someone from Cornwall I was disappointed by this book. It never looks on positives such as tourists and always looks at negatives. Got repetitive throughout and was not a good read in the end.

[Jo · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Katie Baker · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really interesting memoir highlighting the challenges of growing up poor in the Cornish countryside.

[Ja Lhorn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Poignant, thought-provoking and wonderfully written!

[Louise MacAllister · Rating 4 out of 5]

I lived in Cornwall when I was 19. This book is resonates with that time, I've never seen that in literature before. It's realistic and not 'challenges everyone faces' as one reviewer claims, the specificities of poverty in rural Cornwall are real and supported by data.