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Sea Bean

Sea Bean

Summary

WINNER OF THE 2023 HIGHLAND BOOK PRIZE

A WATERSTONES NATURE AND TRAVEL BEST BOOK OF 2023

LONGLISTED FOR THE WAINWRIGHT NATURE WRITING PRIZE 2023


'Modern, revealing and restorative, a coastal treasure' Amy Liptrot

'Like its talismanic title, Huband's voice is distinct and singular. A gorgeous reckoning with the sea, islands and mythology' Sinéad Gleeson

'A wild melding of body and landscape. A deep, immersive, storm-tossed read' Helen Jukes

'As vital and complex as the oceans themseleves' Joanna Pocock

A powerful journey of sea and self, trial and hope on the islands of Shetland

On the storm-tossed beaches of the Shetland Archipelago, Sally Huband is searching. A message in a bottle, a mermaid’s purse, a lobster trap tag, each find connects her more deeply with our oceans. But it is Sally’s quest for a fabled sea bean that unlocks the myths of these islands and carries her through chronic illness towards a new and more resilient self.

Reviews

  • I found the book a deeply moving, immersive journey through land, sea and the human heart
    Raynor Winn, author of The Salt Path

About the author

Sally Huband

Sally Huband was born in Bristol in 1974. A writer and naturalist, she received a Masters in Conservation from University College London and a PhD from the University of Edinburgh. For her doctorate she combined ecology and ethnography to research the butterflies of hay meadow habitats in the Romanian Carpathians. She is a recipient of a Scottish Book Trust New Writers Award, and her work has been published in Antlers of Water and Archipelago - A Reader. Sally lives in the Shetland Islands with her daughter, son and husband. Sea Bean is her first book.
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