BOOKS, RADIO AND TV
A powerful and moving memoir of one woman’s search for belonging
What to read and watch, plus a Q&A with nature writer Paul Evans.
BOOK
I BELONG HERE:
A JOURNEY ALONG THE
BACKBONE OF BRITAIN
BY ANITA SETHI, BLOOMSBURY, £16.99 (HB)
Anita Sethi is a Mancunian and woman of colour (the least-worst term available, she says) who grew up in a working-class family in the inner-city. While recovering from the trauma of a race-hate crime, she bravely embarks alone on a series of walks through the limestone landscapes of northern England, from the Yorkshire Dales and Pennines to Hadrian’s Wall. They form the heart of this painfully honest yet optimistic book, which combines travel writing, memoir and a search for healing and belonging.
There are many moving moments, as Sethi seeks comfort and kinship in the natural world. “Can you imagine a blade of grass having low self-esteem, being made to hate its colour or shape?” she asks. “Despite being so literally trod upon, it is so sure of itself, so confident in its skin. Be more like grass growing, I think.”
Defiance surges through the pages, as powerful as the rivers that Sethi tramps along. There is beauty too, as she encounters the kindness of strangers and connects to nature at an elemental level. The racial slurs that have been flung at her are shocking, but hope wins out.
Putting one boot in front of the other, through quaint villages and over mountain and moorland trails, becomes an act of protest, Sethi’s way of saying that she, and single women everywhere, have the right to roam the British countryside safely and feel at home.
Ben Hoare, naturalist and author • Anita Sethi writes in our next issue.