LoveReading Says
What a beautifully loving and hopeful book this is. It’s a very personal story, it is also an ode to our natural world and blasts a warning of the environmental change being experienced in everyday life. Author Sally Huband and her family move to the islands of Shetland, there she struggles after pregnancy with a chronic illness, and begins to form a beautiful bond with the natural world she discovers around her. Her search for a sea bean, an almost magical charm, widens her awareness of herself and her surroundings. She is open and honest and articulate, I also felt connected to her vulnerability and strength which come into play in the most challenging of times. Focusing on change, both personally and within the environment, this a story of despair and love and hope. There is a stark reality to be found here within the natural world, she clearly talks of the impact of plastic in our oceans, the loss of species, weather transformations, and more, ensuring that thoughts aren’t easily turned away from catastrophic changes our world is experiencing. Living in the islands, being a part of the community, communicating with like-minded people, experiencing the love of family, and being able to step into nature, all of these things bring her closer to understanding her body, mind, and ability to accept or attempt to make changes. Chosen as a LoveReading Star Book, Sea Bean is an incredibly intimate yet also immensely thought-provoking and powerful introduction to Sally’s inner world, the islands of Shetland and beyond.
Liz Robinson
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Sea Bean Synopsis
A powerful journey of sea and self, trial and hope on the islands of Shetland
When a seed falls from a vine in the tropics and is carried by ocean currents across the Atlantic to the shores of Western Europe - it is known as a sea bean. It is still considered lucky to find a sea bean on the shore, they have been used as magical charms for more than a thousand years.
Sally's search for a sea bean begins not long after she moves to the windswept archipelago of Shetland. When pregnancy triggers a chronic illness and forces her to slow down, Sally takes to the beaches. There she discovers treasure freighted with story and curiosities that connect her to the world.
The wild shores of Shetland offer glimpses of orcas swimming through the ocean at dusk, the chance to release a tiny storm petrel into the dark of the night and a path of hope. This beachcombing path takes her from the Faroese archipelago to the Orkney islands, and the Dutch island of Texel. It opens a world of ancient myths, fragile ecology, and deep human history. It brings her to herself again.
Sea Bean is a message in a bottle. An interconnection of our oceans, communities and ourselves, and an invitation to feel belonging when we are adrift.
About This Edition
Sally Huband Press Reviews
SEA BEAN is a coastal treasure. Its hard-won attentiveness shows the wonder and vulnerability of our interconnected oceans, wildlife and people. In Sally's writing, beachcombing - an old island pursuit - is modern, revealing and restorative. The next time I am at the shore I will have a deeper appreciation and curiosity -- Amy Liptrot
Like its talismanic title, Huband's voice is distinct and singular. A gorgeous reckoning with the sea, islands and mythology -- Sinead Gleeson
A wild melding of body and landscape. A deep, immersive, storm-tossed read -- Helen Jukes
A hymn to the vast watery depths of our planet, Sally explores the vital connections between humans and the creatures contained within and shaped by our precious seas. SEA BEAN is as vital and complex as the oceans themselves -- Joanna Pocock
A magical, moving, strange book -- Jon Day
A spectacular book, with a gorgeous slow, sad pace, full of quietly vital information. Sally seems to know just the right way to tell beautiful stories about quiet things. For me anyway, it's an instant classic of nature writing -- Sara Baume
Sally Huband is a perceptive and engaging guide to the shores of Shetland and beyond. Full of curiosity and candour, SEA BEAN reveals the mysteries and wonders that are found where land and water meet -- Malachy Tallack
Sea Bean is a beautifully brave book about finding one's place in an uncertain world. For Sally Huband that place is the Shetland shoreline, where her extraordinary beachcombing finds in times of limiting illness connect her to the greater waters of wild wonder, ecological grief and the possibilities of community. It's a profoundly illuminating journey through the seas that ultimately encircle us all. But what makes this journey so special is that its movement comes from waiting; it emerges from the great patience and care needed to uncover the stories that are washed ashore from elsewhere. Sea Bean will change the way you look at the world's coasts -- Julia Hoffman
This is a book with real heart. As she scours the coastline of her wild island home, Huband shows us not only the delights of hunting for treasure amongst the detritus, but also the horrors of climate change in real time. It will change the way I look at beaches forever -- Lulah Ellender
