The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating

Get in the xigxag app
Already purchased

Click to open directly in the xigxag app.

This book is not purchasable in your country. Please select another book. Pre-order Buy Now €{{ price }} Send as a gift
How does xigxag pricing work?

Listen to a sample

What to expect

Bloomsbury presents The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating by Elisabeth Tova Bailey read by Kate Handford


'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.

Critics Review

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
This slim, thoughtful book is a miniature masterpiece.
The Independent
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
Charming and absorbing.
The Times
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
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
With exquisite delicacy, Bailey doesn't mention the French enthusiasm for eating them with garlic butter. In fact, if the only time you think about snails is when you storm into the garden to wreak vengeance on them for ravaging your hostas, Bailey's beautifully written, brief memoir may change your views forever.
Daily Mail
A charming, delicate meditation on the meaning of life.
Kirkus Reviews
Brilliant.
The New York Review of Books
A little gem … I commend [this] book to anyone who has ever had to spend more than a day in bed.
The Times Magazine
The moving story of Bailey's relationship with a wild snail when she is bed-realmed with chronic illness. A fascinating view of the microcosmic landscapes inhabited by both narrator and snail.
Geographical
Lyrical, universal, deeply felt, and with an enormously generous soul, the gently told story grants readers a heightened appreciation for the ever-shrinking, ever-fascinating, secretive parts of our unkempt world.
Daily Beast
Bailey has involuntarily spent over 20 years coping with restricted movement. This intimate account of her snail-like life challenges readers to seek calm in their own lives.
Library Journal (US)
This book is an ideal present, an anecdotal influence, a remind of what it is to be alive, and most of all, a warm-hearted story of a real person who found her path with the help of one of nature's smallest creations.
The Middle Way, Journal for the Buddhist Society
This book is beautifully written and is an amazing story of how the human spirit can be so strong, even in the most adverse of circumstances. It is a wonderful illustration of the healing power of nature.
Interaction – Action for M.E.
An astonishing book that portrays a woman who’s incapacitated through illness; she’s lying in bed, can’t move, and someone brings her a flower in a pot and on it is a snail. It’s about her relationship with that snail. The narrative content is limited, but what she does with it is incredible.
The Guardian: Books that Made Me
The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating is an affirmation of the healing power of nature, revealing much of the world we miss in our busy daily lives, and how truly magical it is.
Country Smallholding
Beautifully observed nature study of a creature most would dismiss as just a step from the slug - by an American author who has M.E. We're invited to draw the obvious parallels and she pulls it off, elegantly.
ME Association Magazine
This charming little book tells us to slow down, take note and learn from all that's around us.
New Books Magazine
Bailey's book is like a snail's shell, with an unexpectedly touching friendship lying at its centre. Spiralling outwards are meditations on time, purpose and purposelessness, evolution and human survival.
The Oxonian Review
A delightful and unusual tale ... beautifully written and meticulously researched.
The Scientific Medical Network
The writing [is] exquisitely tender and so full of insight. I will never look at a snail again in the same light.
Countess Margaret of Mar, Founder of Forward-ME
A beautiful little book which is written with a real gentleness and is very enjoyable to read.
Mark Kurlansky, author and journalist

More from the same

Narrator

About xigxag

Experience the best audiobooks with xigxag, an innovative and user-friendly audiobook platform designed for seamless discovery, purchase, and enjoyment of your favorite titles. Our flexible pricing model offers bestselling audiobooks for less, providing affordable prices and the best audiobook deals without requiring a subscription. Perfect for gifting, xigxag also features convenient audiobook gift cards and in-app audiobook gifting options.

 

Beyond the listening experience, xigxag stands as an exciting alternative to big tech, embodying a strong commitment to sustainability and ethical practices. As the only B Corp certified UK audiobook service, we ensure a guilt-free listening experience from a leader in audiobook innovation.

 

Effortlessly search audiobooks, access honest audiobook reviews that evaluate both the content and narration, and easily discover hidden gems. Whether you prefer to download or stream top audiobook titles, xigxag provides the best possible listening experience anytime, anywhere, on the UK’s best independent audiobook app. Discover the future of audiobooks today.