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“The Cornish call it the singing of the shores. When fishermen needed to find their way home and land was obscured by a blanket of fog or intense darkness, they listened intently to the sound of the waves breaking upon shore. The shores sang to them, much like the setting sun beckons the wild geese to fly home before it disappears for the day.”
Somewhere in Cornwall, the bolthole at the western extremity of Britain, a couple of Indian ex-pats take to the coastal paths to explore a land as old as the hills. When author Arundhati Basu crosses the River Tamar with her husband in the summer of 2012, little does she know that they are stepping into a different world order. Vanity and pretensions are useless commodities in the old country where everything comes to a screeching halt for a cream tea or a well-earned box of fish & chips. The couple, newly married and relocated to the Midlands, find the contours of their relationship changing with every tramping holiday in Cornwall, as they get immersed in the relaxed rhythm of the countryside. Overarching their experience is the salt-laden air from the sea, washing over the senses and reminding us that we are at the mercy of nature.
In a world wholly caught up in the bog of social isolation, a narrative of slow travels through the West Country is a reminder that somewhere on the horizon, a place like Cornwall awaits. Told in a ‘loiterly’ fashion, along with illustrations by the author in charcoal, the book is an anti-travel guide, a cure for the anaesthetic impact of a city existence, far from the lightning-fast pace of modernity.
“Ramblers in Cornwall is a lighthearted and enjoyable memoir of @arundhati_basu_ ‘s journeys around Cornwall (surprisingly 😉). I loved the detailed descriptions the author gives of Cornish towns that she visited over the years with her husband. She is skilled at transporting the reader directly into the scene and provides plenty of interesting background history, too. If you’ve ever visited Cornwall then this will make you nostalgic for the quaint towns and villages that are described, and if you’ve never visited before then this book will make you want to rectify that as soon as possible. My only criticism is that I felt it could have been better structured as the timeline tended to leap around a fair bit. But it’s an enjoyable read nonetheless.”
– Emma Peake, Book Reviewer (@emmaturningpages)
“Which was your last vacation place? What did you enjoyed most during the travel? I was reading ‘Ramblers in Cornwall’ for the past couple of days and it refreshed all my memories of my past travels to the US, Singapore, Dubai and Malaysia. In this book, the author has beautifully portrayed her journey from Salalah (a city in Oman) to Calcutta to Delhi to Cornwall (duchy in the UK). Alhough the book mainly talk about her vivid and beautiful travel experiences from Cornwall, reading about her journey from childhood to adulthood was a bonus and sweet delight indeed! The story of a gentleman’s inn, an abandoned village, King Arthur’s Corner and reading about many more such interesting places through the author’s eyes felt like it was not only the author and her husband exploring them, but that you were accompanying them on the journey too. I liked how deeply the author has described places, from sharing it’s history, interesting facts about the place and what they explored to how their experience was. What I loved the most about this book is the message that the author tried to give. Instead of just hopping from one place to another and ticking them off from the list, try and slow down, be mindful of your experiences. Learn to appreciate the beauty of the place, richness of its culture, the enchanting tales buried in its history, and the lively welcome note struck by locals towards tourists. There is always so much to learn, explore, and know about any place that we’ve been through mindlessly. And seeing this kind of transition in the author’s travels made me think over my own travel experiences mindfully. If you are a travel freak, love exploring and learning about new places, you’ll definitely love this one.”
– Komal Kamble, Book Reviewer (@komal_reads)
This is a highly entertaining travel/memoir where Arundhati and her husband, having relocated to England as a newly married couple, explore various parts of Cornwall during their holidays before relocating once again to the USA. For those not in the know, Cornwall is the most south westerly county in the UK. A landscape of seaside towns and villages, rugged moorland with granite outcrops, abandoned mines, miles of farmland, rivers and woods, bustling countryside towns, the Cathedral of Truro, National Trust and English Heritage sites, and heaving holiday resorts. A place full of myths, legends and history. The author lovingly brings so many areas of Cornwall to life for the reader. Her descriptions make you feel you are there and she does a fantastic job of bringing in lots of history of the places without it feeling too information heavy or losing the flow.
There’s also a wellbeing vibe to the book because their holidays become less frenetic as they come to realise that taking your time to experience your surroundings and learning to relax is a far more enriching experience than rushing around trying to see everything. In this busy life we all lead it’s good to sometimes do things ‘dreckly’ as we Cornish say, which basically means ‘there’s no rush, I’ll get around to that sometime ‘. There were a couple of times where I noticed information being repeated uneccessarily, but otherwise the editing and writing were spot on. There’s a nice amount of humour to the storytelling and it really was a pleasure to read. If the author and her husband ever come back to Cornwall for a visit then I’ll be down the pub with a pint of Doom. Cheers 🍺 ✨✨✨✨⚡4.5 stars
– Gavin, Book Reviewer(@adperfectamconsilium)
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ARUNDHATI BASU 