Rough Edges
Where Land Meets Water, the Untold Stories of Coastline Communities
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Rough Edges
Narrated by:
Natasha Carthew
Pre-order Now for £17.94
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Narrated by:
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Natasha Carthew
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By:
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Natasha Carthew
About this listen
Fiona Robertson, author of Stone Lands
'Natasha Carthew writes with an insight and an acuity of vision that few can match'
Sally Huband, author of Sea Bean
'Bracing, insightful and compassionate, the book shines a light on communities too often unseen and unheard'
Jini Reddy, author of Wanderland
'A forceful but compassionate polemic, delivered with Carthew's trademark robustly lyrical prose style'
Tim Hannigan, author of The Granite Kingdom
Beyond the picture postcards, Britain's coastal communities are suffering.
Crowds flood the beaches during summer heatwaves but they quickly vanish again, leaving behind drifts of rubbish and unstable seasonal jobs. Seaside property is in high demand but affordable only for landlords and gentrifiers. The cost-of-living crisis and the ongoing pains of austerity trap those at the vulnerable edges of our nation in poverty.
Having grown up in rural Cornwall, Natasha Carthew leaves the county in search of a new home. Travelling the country and exploring the villages, towns and cities of our coast, she meets the people fighting to keep these places alive. With fierce compassion, she shares their voices and their stories.
Rough Edges is a rallying cry for the beauty and importance of our coast and its people.©2026 Natasha Carthew (P)2026 Hodder & Stoughton Limited
Critic reviews
Rough Edges brings the reality of severe coastal poverty into sharp focus in an urgent and compassionate blend of candid memoir and compelling literary reportage. Natasha Carthew writes with an insight and an acuity of vision that few can match, and the messages of Rough Edges land with great integrity. Rough Edges unflinchingly scrutinises the systematic inequalities wrecking coastal communities and sets out a vision in which people in the 'salt belt' shorelines of these islands can thrive (Sally Huband, author of SEA BEAN)
Bracing, insightful and compassionate, the book shines a light on communities too often unseen and unheard (not least in coastal nature-writing narratives). As the child of immigrants, I was also heartened to read Natasha Carthew's moving plea for a borderless world. Rough Edges ought to be required reading for UK politicians across the spectrum (Jini Reddy, author of WANDERLAND)
Natasha Carthew is a brilliant chronicler of life at the salty margins and Rough Edges is a forceful but compassionate polemic, delivered with her trademark robustly lyrical prose style. It deserves to be widely read - an important and original voice (Tim Hannigan, author of THE GRANITE KINGDOM)
A brilliant, eye-opening and moving investigation into the abandonment of Britain's coastal working class. Part paean to Natasha Carthew's own rural working class heritage, part searing critique of exploitation, greed and policy failure, this is essential reading for anyone who loves this country's seasides. There is much loss and sadness in these pages but ultimately the message is a powerful and hopeful one: it is possible for people to come together to fight for a fair and decent life for all (Fiona Robertson, author of STONE LANDS)
Candid, unflinching, brave. Natasha Carthew has distilled a year-long journey around the British coast and the hopes, challenges and histories of its working-class communities into a hugely important and passionate book. Set against a backdrop of buoyant, holidaying visitors and entrenched local poverty, this is a journey, ultimately, in search of home, connection and solidarity, a vital corrective to damaging cultural stereotypes and failed state policies. Rough Edges breaks a sensitive and authentic path towards a genuine understanding of what it means to be working class and to live on the precarious border between land and sea (Julian Hoffman, author of LIFELINES)
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