Sea Bean: A powerful journey of sea and self, trial and hope on Shetland

By Cathy Hayward at Kemptown Bookshop

Sea Bean – a beachcomber’s search for a magical charm by Sally Huband is published on 6 April 2023 and will be available at Kemptown Bookshop and all major bookshops. Please shop local and support independent bookshops where you can.

until ‘a lull in the wind coincides with a lull in the stormy weather within my body.’

Over the course of the book, Sally casts numerous messages in bottles into the sea as she searches for answers. But by the end, she recognises that her compulsion to beachcomb is less about what she might find but the success of venturing out in all weathers – and in all physical states – to walk. In the end the journey is more important than the destination.

Sea Bean is a love letter to island life, a lament to the dwindling numbers of birds, fish and insects in the environment and a reflection of the interconnection between the oceans, communities and ourselves. Part memoir, part nature journal, this book is a message in a bottle to the future. Even if you’ve never read nature writing, then give this is go. It’s a delight from start to finish.