The Foghorn's Lament cover art

The Foghorn's Lament

The Disappearing Music of the Coast

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The Foghorn's Lament

By: Jennifer Lucy Allan
Narrated by: Jennifer Lucy Allan
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About this listen

What does the foghorn sound like?

It sounds huge. It rattles. It rattles you and it hooks you. A booming, lonely sound echoing into the vastness of the sea. When Jennifer Lucy Allan hears the foghorn's colossal bellow for the first time, it marks the beginning of an obsession and a journey deep into the history of a sound that has carved out the identity and the landscape of coastlines around the world, from Scotland to San Francisco.

Within its sound is a maritime history of shipwrecks and lighthouse keepers, the story and science of our industrial past, and urban myths relaying tales of foghorns in speaker stacks, blasting out for coastal raves.

An odyssey told through the people who battled the sea and the sound, who lived with it and loathed it and one woman's intrepid voyage through the howling loneliness of nature.

©2021 Jennifer Lucy Allan (P)2021 Orion Publishing Group Travel Writing & Commentary

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All stars
Most relevant  
Loved this book. Fan of Jennifer’s work already from the wire to the radio. This was an insightful rabbit hole and very grateful she made it

Magic

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For someone who supposedly spent a long time living in the lighthouse at Sumburgh Head, it seems strange they can’t even pronounce ‘Sumburgh’ correctly. Makes you think the whole thing is made up. Like one of the foghorn sounds, it’s long and drawn out, and eventually begins to irritate. Disappointing

Not a blast.

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Interesting, but given that this is an audio book about sound it seemed like a missed opportunity not to have heard a few actual foghorns

Where were the foghorns?

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