Sea Bean: A Beachcomber’s Search for a Magical Charm—A Memoir

Summary

“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, author of The Outrun and The Instant

A Waterstones Nature and Travel Best Book of 2023

Winner of the Highlands Book Prize 2023

Longlisted for the Wainwright Nature Prize

A powerful journey of sea and self, trial and hope on the islands of Shetland, where climate change is making marked impacts on the natural world.

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’s long been lucky to find a sea bean upon the shore; these seeds have been collected and used as magical charms for more than a thousand years.

Sally Huband's search for the elusive sea bean begins shortly after she moves to the windswept archipelago of Shetland, the northernmost region of Great Britain, situated between the Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea. When pregnancy triggers a chronic illness and forces her to slow down, Sally turns to the beaches for solace and wellbeing. 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 like a message in a bottle. It reveals the interconnection of our oceans, our communities, and ourselves, and offers both comfort and an invitation to feel belonging when we are adrift.