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 Take a Look at Our Summary of November Highlights, Whether You're Looking for the Latest Releases or Gift Inspiration

In 2011 Huband moved with her family to Shetland during the first of the autumn storms that would pound the islands all winter long. Two years later, her second child was born on the islands, but during the pregnancy, the base of Sally's spine was damaged and the pregnancy also triggered the onset ofautoimmune disease. AsHuband's relationship with her body changed, she took to wandering the many strandlines of the archipelago to see what the sea had washed up. So Huband had more than just beachcombing on her mind when she sat down to write Sea Bean, her first foray into long-form writing.

A naturalist and conservationist by trade, Huband was born in Portishead near Bristol in England’s south-west. Her childhood views were of a coal-fired power station and a chemical works, and beyond that the sluggish Severn Estuary. But although she grew up by the sea she says she didn’t feel “any mythical or uncanny connection with it. I just found it quite terrifying really. It was just miles of endless sinking mud.” Sea Bean is a profoundly moving memoir that's perfect for fans of Raynor Winn, Helen Macdonald and Amy Liptrot. Sea Bean is a coastal treasure. In Sally's writing, beachcombing - an old island pursuit - is modern, revealing and restorative. The next time I'm at the shore I will have a deeper appreciation and curiosity'. Amy Liptrot. Sally Huband's Sea Bean is the first of these hits - it will easily be one of my books of the year, but more than that, it's one of a handful of things that I've read early or in proof and felt that it's something special. I hope my instinct is right on this one too. Shetland is at the centre of this book, but it reaches far beyond following the path of the things that wash up on it's shores from all over the world. Inbetween there are bits of history and folklore, local issues that have national significance, meditations on what the proliferation of plastic in our environment means for all of us, and a myriad of different connections to make.

A notable addition the canon of beachcombing literature . . . the inspiring story of a woman coming to terms with a life-changing medical condition by finding beauty and interest and wonder in the infinite variety of things she finds washed up along the shore Scotsman Titled Sea Bean, the workis described as a "deeply honestmemoir from anaturalist who sees the poetry in an otter's footprint or a fulmar's stomach contents, the potency in the myths of motherhood, the connectivity of the oceans and the relationship between islands, seascapes, body and self in our wild and modern world". 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.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 Huband moved to Shetland in 2011 with her husband and baby son. The house they’ve been living in isn’t child friendly and they’re struggling to find another one. Motherhood doesn’t appear to be compatible with progression in her academic career either, so when her husband is offered a job in Shetland it sounds like it was an easy decision to go. 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 On an even more personal note it is also a memoir of Huband’s own struggles. She writes openly about her miscarriages and movingly about the invasive medical procedure which follows, known as an evacuation of the retained products of a conception. She broaches her depression and the dark thoughts about self-harm which seized her and which she didn’t feel able to talk about in case she was deemed unfit to look after her son. And throughout the book she writes about the chronic health condition which has afflicted her for over a decade now, a debilitating form of arthritis.

With no rheumatology care available on Shetland during the pandemic, the last few years have been especially hard. On top of that, Huband caught Covid-19 early on which triggered a bad relapse. Too often, her beloved beaches became unreachable. “I’m just starting to get it managed again, so it has been a long two years,” she says.

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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 The way Huband writes about undoubtedly difficult things is matter of fact and honest. I’d say brave, but that has a condescending ring to it which feels wrong to me. Unselfish might be a better description, as the more personal episodes seem to me to be shared in the spirit of letting others know they are not alone if they’ve felt the same. 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.

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 ISBN: Huband's passion flows through the prose as she breathes life into this lesser-known pastime . . . Frank, learned and lyrical Books From ScotlandHer succinct summery of what’s happening with the local windfarm development is an example of something that’s proved beyond the control of local people to change. The power generated will be cabled down to mainland Scotland, Shetland will be left to deal with the consequences of becoming an industrialised landscape just as its beaches collect the consequent rubbish of other industries. 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.