Move Like Water: My Story of the Sea

by Hannah Stowe

Overview

Winner 2024 Banff Mountain Book Award for Adventure Travel

"A sensuous book, more felt than described, more described than explained, more painted than penned: part memoir, part journal and. . . . part natural mystery tour."—Carl Safina, The New York Times Book Review

A book to sweep you away from the shore, into a wild world of water, whale, storm, and starlight— to experience what it’s like to sail for weeks at a time with life set to a new rhythm.

As a young girl, Hannah Stowe was raised at the tide’s edge on the Pembrokeshire coast of Wales, falling asleep to the sweep of the lighthouse beam. Now in her midtwenties, working as a marine biologist and sailor, Stowe draws on her professional experiences sailing tens of thousands of miles in the North Sea, North Atlantic, Mediterranean, Celtic Sea, and the Caribbean to explore the human relationship with wild waters. Why is it, she asks, that she and so many others have been drawn to life at sea—and what might the water around us be able to teach us?

Braiding her powerful and deeply personal narrative and illustrations with stories of six keystone marine creatures—the fire crow, sperm whale, wandering albatross, humpback whale, shearwater, and the barnacle—Stowe invites readers to fall in love, as she has, with the sea and those that call it home, and to discover the majesty, wonder, and vulnerability of the underwater world.

For fans of Rachel Carson and Annie Dillard, Move Like Water: My Story of the Sea is an inspiring, heartfelt hymn to the sea, a testament to finding and following a dream, and an unforgettable introduction to a deeply gifted nature writer of a new generation.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781959030102
Publisher:	Tin House Books
Publication date:	09/19/2023
Pages:	288
Sales rank:	154,280
Product dimensions:	7.70(w) x 5.20(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Hannah Stowe lives in Dresden, Germany, writing, painting, and sailing her own boat named Larry.

Editorial Reviews

★ 07/10/2023

Stowe immerses readers in the sights, sounds, and rhythms of the ocean in her spellbinding debut. She begins by recounting her childhood on the Welsh coast, characterized by walks along a shore studded with sea glass, mermaid’s purses, and hag stones, then loosely traces her development as a sailor, from working on a tourist boat to joining research expeditions while she pursued a degree in marine biology. Each chapter revolves around a sea creature, which Stowe shares research about before weaving in her own experiences: for example, a fascinating introduction to matrilineal sperm whales turns into a stirring meditation on the women, including her grandmother and scientists Rachel Carson and Sylvia Earle, who have inspired her. In a chapter on the albatross, Stowe braids the perilous, transoceanic journeys the giant birds undertake each year with her own against-all-odds struggle to recover from a spinal injury. “By stars and birds, wave and whale,” Stowe finds her way across choppy waters while encouraging readers to reassess their own relationships with the sea. The result is an unforgettable plunge into the passions of an extraordinary storyteller. Agent: Jessica Woollard, David Higham Assoc. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

"A sensuous book, more felt than described, more described than explained, more painted than penned: part memoir, part journal and — with each chapter named for a creature the author encountered either in real life or in dreams — part natural mystery tour."

The New York Times Books Review Carl Safina

"Exquisite in its intelligence and boundless in the fetch of its wave."

Jay Griffiths

"Elegant, enthralling. . . . It’s not simply that it intertwines Stowe’s remarkable personal story with an incitement to shift how we view the world—or, in this instance, the seas. It’s the writing itself. There are plenty of books about the sea, but few, if any, have the lyrical, almost visceral intensity of this one."

Daily Mail

"Inspiring. . . . Hannah Stowe recounts her lifelong love affair with the sea and illuminates the complexities of our relationship with ocean ecosystems. . . . An urgent call to address the damage we’re doing to the oceans, and a siren song to the beauty and power of the sea."

Lulah Ellender

"The shelves are awash with sea books. But Stowe is different. She doesn’t just watch and describe the sea; she’s part of it. It surges inside her and crashes out onto the page. The book’s drenched with salt water. It fizzes, clicks, booms and screams. Tremendous."

Charles Foster

"Luminous. . . . extraordinary. . . . absorbing. . . . a gem of a book—a must-read for anyone interested in the sea or marine life, and highly recommended for those who enjoy top-notch memoirs. Stowe's exquisite prose makes this a book to be savored."

Book Browse

"Let Hannah's captivating prose transport you on a journey across the waves, feeling the wind and salt on your skin, and always watching out for the tantalising glimpse of a whale. You will be enthralled by her personal story, invigorated by her energy and determination, and persuaded to think deeply about the ocean, its living treasures and the human troubles they face."

Helen Scales

The sea, with its tides and weather, can be peaceful and inspiring, or it can be wild and chaotic. Anna Rust's calm and rhythmic voice evokes the constantly moving ocean that intersects and shapes Hannah Stowe's life. The author grew up on the Welsh coast, where she learned to sail and surf and observe the creatures of the ocean. Here she warns of ocean acidification, rising temperatures, and the bycatch of dolphins and albatross caught in fishing nets so immense that they empty out the ocean. Rust reels the listener in with myths of the sea and tales of stomach-churning sailing voyages. She adeptly renders the immense physical pain that shoots through Stowe's spine after a serious surfing accident. The audiobook is both magical and a serious call to action. A.B. © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine

JANUARY 2024 - AudioFile

2023-06-02
Stowe seeks to give readers an ocean they can hold in their hands.

The author, a writer, painter, and sailor who lives in Germany, opens this lovely memoir with her description of a young girl at night’s “ink hours” watching a nearby Welsh lighthouse by the Pembrokeshire coast cast its light in her darkened room. “There was never a time when I did not know the sea,” which would frequently “shape my studies, paintings, words.” She became familiar with the local seabirds, jellyfish, seals, dolphins, a basking shark, and harbor porpoise. Stowe feels “as if I had absorbed the shape of the land, the water, into my bones.” Sadly, she has also deeply felt the negative impact humans have on her precious seascape and wildlife. After school, she wanted her own “odyssey,” an “entirely different space” in her mind. In one adventure, Stowe takes us onboard a ship roiling about, rain lashing down in a “Mephistophelian chaos.” It’s a small sailing boat–turned–floating laboratory, conducting research on bottlenose whale populations on the east coast of Canada. “I felt rather than saw my first sperm whale,” she writes. She capably conveys the awesomeness of its size as well as the fact that it exhales as it dives and can accumulate tons of carbon. The author also recounts how, during college, she suffered a severe back injury that resulted in excruciating pain, making sailing difficult. Nonetheless, she bought a boat, named it Brave, and ventured out like a wandering albatross to Pembrokeshire. She decided her dissertation would consist of an ambitious visual survey of the local animals, and she worked hard to pass her Yachtmaster exam. Her incisive discussion of humpback whales vocalizing and sound pollution is fascinating. For Stowe, “there was hardly a minute of time on land when my mind did not drift to the sea.”

Nature lovers and sailors will savor Stowe’s personal, thoughtful, science-filled voyages.

Kirkus Reviews

"This is Stowe’s love letter to the sea."

A Best Book of September Book Riot

"Evocative. . . . perfect for fans of Annie Dillard or Elisabeth Tova Bailey."

Shelf Awareness

"Exquisite, luminous."

Moms Don’t Have Time to Read Books Zibby Owens

"A briny love story. . . . Stowe wistfully explores the mysteries of water as she navigates the sometimes turbulent, often rousing flow of her life."

Booklist