Awards

• Long-listed for Gordon Burn Prize 2019 (UK)
• Short-listed for Saltire Society Non-Fiction Book of the Year 2019 (UK)

Overview

A powerful, personal, agenda-changing work of non-fiction on poverty in Britain from acclaimed novelist, activist and columnist Kerry Hudson A powerful, personal agenda-changing exploration of poverty in today's Britain. 'Totally engrossing and deliciously feisty' Bernardine Evaristo 'Staggering... An absolute inspiration' Douglas Stewart, Herald 'When every day of your life you have been told you have nothing of value to offer, that you are worth nothing to society, can you ever escape that sense of being 'lowborn' no matter how far you've come?' Kerry Hudson is proudly working class but she was never proudly poor. The poverty she grew up in was all-encompassing, grinding and often dehumanising. Always on the move with her single mother, Kerry attended nine primary schools and five secondaries, living in B&Bs and council flats. She scores eight out of ten on the Adverse Childhood Experiences measure of childhood trauma. Twenty years later, Kerry's life is unrecognisable. She's a prizewinning novelist who has travelled the world. She has a secure home, a loving partner and access to art, music, film and books. But she often finds herself looking over her shoulder, caught somehow between two worlds. Lowborn is Kerry's exploration of where she came from. She revisits the towns she grew up in to try to discover what being poor really means in Britain today and whether anything has changed. 'One of the most important books of the year' Guardian

Full Product Details

9781784708603

Table of Contents

Reviews

I loved Lowborn... A powerful exploration of Hudson's working-class childhood and its legacy -- David Nicholls, author of One Day Elegant, compassionate and powerful... tells the hidden story of what it means to be poor in Britain today -- Charlotte Heathcote * Sunday Express * Compelling, fascinating and well-written, undeniably grim but peppered with humour and tenderness...Hudson demonstrates that only by lifting whole communities out of poverty...can we hope to avoid consigning children and young people like her - vulnerable and blameless - to the worst of lives -- Kit de Waal * Daily Telegraph * Lowborn is an insider's view of the complexities of modern-day poverty, written with humour and compassion, but without judgement. It should be required reading for anyone who unknowingly believes poverty is a personal choice and that if you work hard enough you'll avoid its fate... a fearless writer, an inspiring woman -- Jackie Annesley * Sunday Times * Lowborn is in part an indictment of a country that claims to still have a functioning welfare state... Most of all, it is a moving portrait of the survival and eventual flourishing of a remarkable spirit -- John Harris * Guardian * Totally engrossing and deliciously feisty...It really brings home how under-represented working class lives and impoverished childhoods have been in our literary culture' * Bernadine Evaristo * Where there are few working-class stories, there are fewer still from working-class women. Lowborn stands out as rare, as well as compassionately and skilfully told... Some books help us understand the world around us. Others do that, and make us feel less alone in it, too. Lowborn is one such book, holding out a hand of friendship to anyone who might pick it up and find something forgotten or familiar among its pages -- Laura Waddell * Scotsman * Beautifully written but with emotional hand grenades detonating on almost every page...a breathtaking odyssey -- Stephen McGinty * Sunday Times * Kerry Hudson invites us to really understand the complexities of being born working class in Britain. Buy it, read it, tell everyone about it -- Jack Monroe I wish I'd had access to such honest and relatable work as Hudson's when I was younger. She proves that successful women can have a working-class story -- Hollie Richardson * Stylist * Kerry Hudson blew me away, opened my eyes -- Philippa Perry, author of The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read * You're Booked * Hudson has written a moving and readable account of growing up in the poorest section of society. Her book is also a meditation on social mobility... Hudson's life is proof that a person can, against the odds, make a success of themselves. In Lowborn, she shows us very clearly why so many do not -- James Bloodworth * The Times * Lowborn is the opposite of a misery memoir. The chapters alternate between Hudson's raw memories and accounts of her present-day attempts to confront them. There's warmth and courage as well as pain and ultimately triumph here * New Statesman * A book that cuts like a knife * Spectator * Paints a near-dystopian portrait of Brexit-age Britain... Lowborn is a powerful testimonial... Here's hoping it gives others the courage to tell their version of this story, at high volume -- Peter Murphy * Irish Times *

I loved Lowborn... A powerful exploration of Hudson's working-class childhood and its legacy -- David Nicholls, author of One Day Elegant, compassionate and powerful… tells the hidden story of what it means to be poor in Britain today -- Charlotte Heathcote * Sunday Express * Compelling, fascinating and well-written, undeniably grim but peppered with humour and tenderness...Hudson demonstrates that only by lifting whole communities out of poverty...can we hope to avoid consigning children and young people like her – vulnerable and blameless – to the worst of lives -- Kit de Waal * Daily Telegraph * Lowborn is an insider’s view of the complexities of modern-day poverty, written with humour and compassion, but without judgement. It should be required reading for anyone who unknowingly believes poverty is a personal choice and that if you work hard enough you’ll avoid its fate… a fearless writer, an inspiring woman -- Jackie Annesley * Sunday Times * Lowborn is in part an indictment of a country that claims to still have a functioning welfare state… Most of all, it is a moving portrait of the survival and eventual flourishing of a remarkable spirit -- John Harris * Guardian * Totally engrossing and deliciously feisty...It really brings home how under-represented working class lives and impoverished childhoods have been in our literary culture' * Bernadine Evaristo * Where there are few working-class stories, there are fewer still from working-class women. Lowborn stands out as rare, as well as compassionately and skilfully told… Some books help us understand the world around us. Others do that, and make us feel less alone in it, too. Lowborn is one such book, holding out a hand of friendship to anyone who might pick it up and find something forgotten or familiar among its pages -- Laura Waddell * Scotsman * Beautifully written but with emotional hand grenades detonating on almost every page…a breathtaking odyssey -- Stephen McGinty * Sunday Times * Kerry Hudson invites us to really understand the complexities of being born working class in Britain. Buy it, read it, tell everyone about it -- Jack Monroe I wish I’d had access to such honest and relatable work as Hudson’s when I was younger. She proves that successful women can have a working-class story -- Hollie Richardson * Stylist * Kerry Hudson blew me away, opened my eyes -- Philippa Perry, author of The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read * You're Booked * Hudson has written a moving and readable account of growing up in the poorest section of society. Her book is also a meditation on social mobility… Hudson’s life is proof that a person can, against the odds, make a success of themselves. In Lowborn, she shows us very clearly why so many do not -- James Bloodworth * The Times * Lowborn is the opposite of a misery memoir. The chapters alternate between Hudson's raw memories and accounts of her present-day attempts to confront them. There's warmth and courage as well as pain and ultimately triumph here * New Statesman * A book that cuts like a knife * Spectator * Paints a near-dystopian portrait of Brexit-age Britain… Lowborn is a powerful testimonial… Here’s hoping it gives others the courage to tell their version of this story, at high volume -- Peter Murphy * Irish Times *

Compelling, fascinating and well-written, undeniably grim but peppered with humour and tenderness, every chapter a testimony to someone's goodness or fortitude, to the kindness of strangers... Hudson demonstrates that only by lifting whole communities out of poverty, by properly looking after looked-after children and funding a well-rounded welfare state, can we hope to avoid consigning children and young people like her - vulnerable and blameless - to the worst of lives -- Kit de Waal * Daily Telegraph * Kerry Hudson invites us to really understand the complexities of being born working class in Britain. Buy it, read it, tell everyone about it -- Jack Monroe Beautifully written but with emotional hand grenades detonating on almost every page...a breathtaking odyssey -- Stephen McGinty * Sunday Times * Kerry Hudson blew me away, opened my eyes... She's got such a great voice and can really tell a story -- Philippa Perry, author of The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read * You're Booked * Where there are few working class stories, there are fewer still from working class women. Lowborn stands out as rare, as well as compassionately and skilfully told... Some books help us understand the world around us. Others do that, and make us feel less alone in it, too. Lowborn is one such book, holding out a hand of friendship to anyone who might pick it up and find something forgotten or familiar among its pages -- Laura Waddell * Scotsman *

Beautifully written but with emotional hand grenades detonating on almost every page...a breathtaking odyssey -- Stephen McGinty * Sunday Times * Kerry Hudson invites us to really understand the complexities of being born working class in Britain. Buy it, read it, tell everyone about it -- Jack Monroe An essential read * Stylist Remarkable Women Awards 2020 * Compelling, fascinating and well-written, undeniably grim but peppered with humour and tenderness, every chapter a testimony to someone's goodness or fortitude, to the kindness of strangers... Hudson demonstrates that only by lifting whole communities out of poverty, by properly looking after looked-after children and funding a well-rounded welfare state, can we hope to avoid consigning children and young people like her - vulnerable and blameless - to the worst of lives -- Kit de Waal * Daily Telegraph * If there were any justice in the world, there would be a copy of Hudson's powerful examination of her impoverished upbringing and why it continues to resonate under every politician's Christmas tree -- Sarah Hughes * i Books of the Year *

Author Information

Kerry Hudson was born in Aberdeen. Her first novel, Tony Hogan Bought Me an Ice-cream Float Before He Stole My Ma, won the Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust First Book Award and was shortlisted for an array of prizes including the Guardian First Book Award and the Sky Arts Award. Thirst, her second novel, won the prestigious Prix Femina etranger. Lowborn, her highly acclaimed first work of non-fiction, was a Radio 4 Book of the Week, a Guardian and Spectator Book of the Year and Stylist Book of the Decade. It is followed by Newborn. She was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2020.

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