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Description
'Fabulous, a triumph, and it will remain a favourite forever.' CHRIS PACKHAM
'A miniature masterpiece.' THE INDEPENDENT
'Charming and absorbing.' THE TIMES
In celebration of its fifteen year anniversary, and including a new foreword by Helen Macdonald, this multi-award winning account of a close encounter with nature will delight readers everywhere.
While an illness keeps her bedridden, Elisabeth Tova Bailey watches a wild snail that has taken up residence in a flowerpot alongside her bed. She enters the rhythm of life of this mysterious creature, and comes to a greater understanding of her own confined place in the world. In a work that beautifully demonstrates the rewards of closely observing nature, she shares the inspiring and intimate story of her connection with Neohelix albolabris – a common woodland snail.
Intrigued by the snail's world – from its strange anatomy to its mysterious courtship activities – she becomes a fascinated and amused observer of the snail's curious life. The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating reveals how much of the natural world we overlook in our busy daily lives, while affirming the extraordinary life of even the tiniest of species.
A remarkable journey of survival and resilience, this beautiful book shows how a small part of the natural world can illuminate our own human existence and deepen our appreciation of what it means to be fully alive.
Product details
Published | 03 Jul 2025 |
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Format | Hardback |
Edition | 1st |
Extent | 192 |
ISBN | 9781399418997 |
Imprint | Bloomsbury Wildlife |
Illustrations | Small chapter illustrations |
Dimensions | 198 x 129 mm |
Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing |
About the contributors
Reviews
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Once in a while a read comes along which transcends all expectations and Elisabeth Tova Bailey's The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating was just such a book for me. ... Fabulous, a triumph, and it will remain a favourite forever.
Chris Packham
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This slim, thoughtful book is a miniature masterpiece.
The Independent
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A rich meditation on snails and time and habitation and purpose at a time when all other life was out of reach.
Helen Macdonald, author of H is for Hawk
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Charming and absorbing.
The Times
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Not so much a cure as a self-secreted route to one, while she lay critically ill Elisabeth Bailey's bedside snail exposed the rich sedimentary layers of her awareness and gifted her the will to live. In an unfussy, meticulous style she has written a finely crafted eulogy to a common woodland snail and a moving endorsement of the human spirit.
John Lister-Kaye
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If evidence were needed of the healing and enriching power of the natural world, Elisabeth Bailey's passionate, heart-warming and illuminating little book is definitive proof.
Resurgence