Listen free for 30 days
Listen with offer
-
Lowborn
- Growing Up, Getting Away and Returning to Britain’s Poorest Towns
- Narrated by: Kerry Hudson
- Length: 8 hrs and 14 mins
Failed to add items
Add to basket failed.
Add to wishlist failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
99p for the first 3 months
Buy Now for £12.99
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Summary
Random House presents the audiobook edition of Lowborn by Kerry Hudson.
What does it really mean to be poor in Britain today? A prizewinning novelist revisits her childhood and some of the country's most deprived towns
'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, revisiting the towns she grew up in to try to discover what being poor really means in Britain today and whether anything has changed. She also journeys into the hardest regions of her own childhood, because sometimes in order to move forwards we first have to look back.
Critic 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)
"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)
More from the same
What listeners say about Lowborn
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- More than a Mum
- 20-05-19
Everyone should hear or read this.
beautifully written in a way that seeks no sympathy but speaks honestly and with good grace. Growing up in poverty in the 70's held many a familiar tale for me however the book illustrated a gaping, terrifying difference. We had permanence of a decent social housing where the standards were maintained to a decent enough leave. Kerry Hudson if you see this, hat off to you for being brave enough to share your story. I hope your voice reaches far and wide.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
10 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Greta
- 21-05-19
Emotional and involving
What a beautiful story! Could not get enough of it and listened the whole thing in 2 days.
It made me widen my views on certain issues, weep and laugh and is so interesting and involving. Great job. Thanks!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
7 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Sarah Campbell
- 20-05-19
Wonderful storytelling account of a life being lived
I have loved all Kerry’ Hudson’s books. This is incredible. Her own story of past, present and future...raw and painful and a call to action. Humanising poverty, and the devastation of growing up poor in Britain. But it is a hopeful book if we don’t ignore our own responsibilities.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
6 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jo
- 20-05-19
outstanding
absolutely outstanding, thought provoking and memory jogging. No matter what class you identify with you Should read this book.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anonymous User
- 29-06-19
Superb.
Such a gently written and beautifully narrated autobiography about such a rough and neglected childhood. My heart ached.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jo C
- 23-06-19
Go Kerry Hudson!
I’ve just finished this and all the hairs on my arms, and strings of my heart are vibrating. This is so much more than a memoir. This is exploring a personal history to speak truth to those in power, to do good, to affect change. The prose is breathtaking & the author’s delivery absolutely beautiful. A quiet, strong resonant voice for those who would be kept down, silenced, shamed & bullied into perpetual submission and self-sabotage. Riveting, pertinent and profound.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- smoker
- 21-06-19
Excellent
If this book doesn't make you think about the reasons for and the effects of poverty then you have not listened properly. Coming from a poor and poverty stricken background I've been waiting for a book like this which describes the problems girls and women ( most authors reflecting on their poor backgrounds are male) are faced with. Every member of Parliament should read this book to show how much damage they are doing to the lives of people.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jacquie H.
- 11-06-21
Did I miss the point?
Without doubt the author had a harrowing story to tell but it was harrowing, in my opinion as a direct result of her mum’s parenting skills. We were left in the dark about much of the details of this area of her life and instead told about the results of poor parental choices with the state and Kerry often picking up the costs of her mother dropping everything in order to chase a man who promised nothing for his daughter and step daughter.
Austerity was/is a hideous policy but along with Kerry’s story I wanted to read why her mum felt it was ok to behave in the way she did… with too many unanswered questions I could only give it a poor rating.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Marion Hibbitts
- 02-10-19
interesting
memorable book. kerry has mannaged to come out the other side and achieve more than most.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 02-08-19
Mandatory reading
This book had a profound effect on me and I know I’ll think about it for years to come. Kerry’s writing transports you and you can feel her experience through it. It’s an absolute education in poverty that everyone should read.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful