Charlotte Runcie has always felt pulled to the sea, lured by its soothing, calming qualities but also enlivened and inspired by its salty wildness. When she loses her beloved grandmother, and becomes pregnant with her first child, she feels its pull even more intensely.
In Salt on Your Tongue Charlotte explores what the sea means to us, and particularly what it has meant to women through the ages. This book is a walk on the beach with Turner, with Shakespeare, with the Romantic Poets and shanty-singers. It's an ode to our oceans - to the sailors who brave their treacherous waters, to the women who lost their loved ones to the waves, to the creatures that dwell in their depths, to beach trawlers, swimmers, sea birds and mermaids.
In mesmerising prose, Charlotte Runcie explores how the sea has inspired, fascinated and terrified us, and how she herself fell in love with the deep blue. Navigating through ancient Greek myths, poetry, shipwrecks and Scottish folktales, Salt on Your Tongue is about how the wild untameable waves can help us understand what it means to be human.
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[THE SEA BEGINS WITH the stars]***
(@canongatebooks, 3 January 2019, 384 pages, ebook, borrowed from @GlasgowLib via @OverDriveLibs)
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I really didn't know what to expect with this book. The blub intrigued me because I also have a fascination with the sea and myths and legend. I really loved this book. Its part memoir as Charlotte prepares to become a mother for the first time, recounting her fears and hopes and the changes her body goes through. It's also about numerous myths and legends associated with the sea and especially women. She shares tales of selkies, sea monsters, human sacrifices made to sea gods and a whole range of fables. This is well-written, well-researched and such fun to read.
