Work in the countryside ties you to the land. But often those who labour in nature have the least control over what happens there. Rebecca Smith beautifully 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.
Rebecca Smith is a non-fiction author and journalist from Cumbria. She worked for BBC Radio for over a decade producing a variety of programmes including news and features and has written for The New York Times, The Guardian and The Sunday Times. She has a Masters in Creative Writing at Glasgow University and now lives in Central Scotland with her three children and partner. Her first book, Rural: The Lives of the Working-Class Countryside is published by William Collins. Rural won the Bill Rollinson Award at the Lakes Book Award 2024.