The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating

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. * Chris Packham, The Guardian: Books that Made Me * This slim, thoughtful book is a miniature masterpiece. * The Independent * This book is an ideal present, an anecdotal influence, a reminder 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. * A charming, delicate meditation on the meaning of life. * Kirkus Review * 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) * 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 * 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 * 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. -- Alexandra Fuller * Daily Beast * 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 * This charming little book tells us to slow down, take note and learn from all that's around us. * New Books Magazine * Single-handedly, this easy-to-read, absorbing book shares with us one woman's suffering, the power of nature to soothe, and an awarness of the natural world that we may previously have overlooked. * Ooffoo.com * 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 * Bailey's book is like a snail's shell, with an inexpectedly touching friendship lying at its centre. Spiralling outwards are meditations on time, purpose and purposelessness, evolution and human survival. * The Oxonian Review * If evidence was needed of the healing and uplifting power of nature, then Elisabeth Tova Bailey's passionate, heart warming and illuminating writing offers real proof. * Devon Wildlife Trust Network News * 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 * This book offers a very different perspective (of life) and is beautifully written and meticulously researched. * The Scientific Medical Network * Once in a while a read comes along which transcends all expectations and Elisabeth Tove 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 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 Charming and absorbing. * The Times * A little gem … I commend [this] book to anyone who has ever had to spend more than a day in bed. -- Melanie Reid * The Times Magazine * A beautiful little book which is written with a real gentleness and is very enjoyable to read. -- Mark Kurlansky, author and journalist