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

When naturalist Huband moved to the Shetland Islands with her family, she faced challenges as a new mother with a recurring illness. She found walking the area’s coastline soothing and purposeful, a way to connect her former career as a marine conservationist and her new work as a nature writer. An avid beachcomber, she sought out bottled messages, driftwood from Canada, egg cases, and, most of all, tropical seeds that drifted north, known as “sea beans”. She also joined in other activities to explore her new ecosystem; for example, she learned how to refloat stranded whales and porpoises and how to collect research data on seabirds. A keen observer of winds and tides, she gathered local folklore of the environments she traveled through as well. Huband’s debut book (a Waterstones Best Book of 2023 in the UK) notes the increasing severity of storms, the effects of wind farming on the Shetland Islands, the precariousness of health care in remote locations, and how oil pollution and plastic shape the shoreline. In short, Huband searched for small bits of treasure and found a community.