SEA BEAN A Beachcomber's Search for a Magical Charm

Sally Huband takes up beachcombing as a distraction to the debilitating arthritic pain brought on by her pregnancy. Huband is a slow, deliberate narrator, a style that is fitting for a meditative memoir on the environment and chronic illness. Based in the Shetland Islands, where her husband is a helicopter pilot, Huband searches for the sea bean, a seed from a vine in the tropics that was once considered a lucky charm. She finds lobster tags from Maine, sea glass, egg cases from skates, and all manner of plastics. Huband's gentle, lilting narration evokes the quiet rocking of the tides even as storms rage around her home, knocking out power, and the climate emergency threatens the ocean and every living thing that relies on it. A.B. © AudioFile 2025, Portland, Maine [Published: FEBRUARY 2025]