A True Story of Life in the Open by Emma Tarlo
‘”I’m not homeless: this is my home!” Nick points to the branches of the hornbeam under which we are standing, its leaves still glistening in the aftermath of the morning rain. On one of the lower branches sits a robin, joining our conversation. It seems to be saying: “Why should anyone want to leave this place?”
If you’ve ever wandered into the wilder sections of Regent’s Park, you may have noticed two men, Nick and Pascal, who lived and slept outside under the trees. They are an unusual duo: Nick is an avid reader of history and philosophy, able to converse on any topic; Pascal is quiet, spending much of his time lying still, communicating silently with birds and animals. They have lived alongside each other on London’s streets for nearly two decades, yet do not identify as homeless. For five years they took shelter under the hornbeam trees in Regent’s Park.
Local author Emma Tarlo first met Nick and Pascal when out walking. Gradually through the sharing of food, conversation and life stories they developed a friendship. Emma was impressed by their unique way of experiencing both the hardship and pleasures of life outside, and their conversations under the open sky prompted her to question many things in her own life, which transformed her understanding of what freedom might look like.
Returning to the park almost daily, Emma met the community of people, dogs and birds that gravitate around Nick and Pascal and discovered the precarious networks of giving and receiving that exist undetected in London’s streets. Her observations resulted in Under the Hornbeams, a life-affirming story that pays homage to the power of human connection and upturns many of our preconceptions about home, family, work and community. The book follows the seasons of a single year through sun, wind, rain and snow and is a hugely moving read, which ranges across themes such as friendship, community, the natural world, and questions the way we live our lives and the capacity to live differently.
Iain Sinclair, the London-based author who is well-known for his psychogeography of the city, describes the book as ‘a seductive report from an otherness we are in danger of disregarding: roofless nights of stars and storms, misted parkland mornings, the magic of food exchanges and gifted insights. Emma Tarlo is captivated by a threatened Eden where the electively disenfranchised tell their tales and endure inevitable expulsion with stoicism and humour.’
Emma Tarlo is an anthropologist, writer and curator, and an Emeritus Professor at Goldsmiths, University of London. She published the prize-winning Entanglement: The Secret Lives of Hair in 2016.
Under the Hornbeams is available from Primrose Hill Books
