Spring Tides

  • Author Fiona Gell
  • Narrator Fiona Gell
  • Publisher Orion
  • Run Time 5 hours and 36 minutes
  • Format Audio
  • Genre Memoirs.
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What to expect

'This is my earliest memory. I am three years old and I sit in the bottom of my great-uncle's pot boat and take off the bands from the lobsters' claws. The deepest of blues, they creak over the bilges with robotic limbs towards my father's bare feet as he rows. Over the scent of the herring bait I can smell the fresh, sweet smell of wrack on the shore. This book has come out of over twenty years of studying the sea and trying to protect it, and a lifetime of loving our other world beneath waves.'

In Spring Tides, marine biologist Fiona Gell tells the story of a pioneering project to create the very first marine nature reserve on the Isle of Man. Growing up in a traditional fishing family on the island, Fiona spent her time on her grandfather's boat, listening to stories from the local fishermen and combing the beach for mermaid's purses and whelks' eggs. She developed a lifelong love of the sea and Manx culture, and on her return to the island after twelve years away studying marine life, she led a three-year-long struggle to protect an area called Ramsey Bay and the precious emerald green eelgrass forests which grew there. With scientific insight and spellbinding prose she perfectly captures the wonder of island life, from the intricate beauty of bright pink maerl, to the enormity of giant basking sharks spotted off the cliffs of the bay. This beautiful story from a small island reveals the transformative power of the sea, and the importance of protecting it for future generations.

Critics Review

  • A stunning book, exquisitely written and all of it observed with enormous compassion for the natural world. Every page of Spring Tides gives the reader everything they want: poetry, knowledge, bejewelled specifics of the ocean and its creatures. As we read, we grow richer, too. You will fall in love with this book, treasure it, and keep it somewhere safe. A book for our time.

    Monique Roffey, author of The Mermaid of Black Conch, Costa Book of the Year 2020

  • Insightful and brimming with marvels, this story of one woman’s love of an island opens a window to our entire ocean, why it matters and how to protect it. At a time when the rampant decline of nature can feel overwhelming, Gell offers a reasoned and much-needed ray of hope, showing that it is possible to safeguard livelihoods and the ocean’s living treasures, and that it doesn’t have to be a choice between the two.

    Helen Scales, author of The Brilliant Abyss and What a Shell Can Tell

  • I loved Spring Tides. Seeding hope and wonder for future generations is a courageous calling and this is a beautifully-crafted triumph. The interweaving of motherhood with marine science, climate and the immeasurable pleasures of our own seashores is a pure delight. Please read this book!

    Nicholas Crane, author of The Making of the British Landscape

  • Fiona Gell writes with the understanding of a scientist and the soul of a poet. The result is a beautiful and bracingly honest account of her efforts to protect the island seas of her home. Her descriptions are so vivid that as you read you can almost feel the lick of saltwater on your skin and smell the desiccating seaweed of a summer low tide.

    Callum Roberts, author of The Ocean of Life

  • A beautiful, briny portrait of one woman’s infatuation with the sea. Fiona Gell has been steeped in salt water her whole life, and her deep understanding, knowledge of and love for her subject shines through.

    Cal Flyn, author of Islands of Abandonment

  • It’s a rare treat to read a book about the sea that is as professional as it is passionate. Fiona Gell’s experience and immersion in her subject is impressive.

    Tristan Gooley, author of The Natural Navigator

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