Description

‘An astonishing achievement… The crackle of language, the word play, the strange music of unfamiliar words. Magnificent.’ Richard Mabey

Jules Pretty tells moving stories from Iceland, Norway’s Lofoten islands, Denmark, eastern and northern England, Lindisfarne, Shetland, St Kilda and the Faroes. His touching tales were a rich cultural tapestry from sagas, the heroic cliff rescues of deep-water fishermen by Icelanders, how Vikings and sheep left so few trees, the miraculous escape of Danish Jews to Sweden from Denmark in 1943. We witness the rise of Abbess Hildr of Whitby, the enslaved Grimsby orphan boys, as well life on Doggerland itself. He asks, ‘How can we live wisely and well with nature and each other, as the fire and flood of Ragnarok looms?’

Table of Contents

Preface
Glossary: The Pantheon of Gods and Places
Timeline of Key Events in the Sea Sagas
On Spelling and Pronunciation
On Time, Distance, Weights and Measures

CHAPTER 1 THE WESTFJORDS OF ICELAND

Saga I Crossings
Saga II Settlement

CHAPTER 2 THE SJÆLLAND GATE AND LOFOTEN ISLES

Saga III Viking Quest

CHAPTER 3 THE EASTERN SHORE

Saga IV Herring for the Grit City
Saga V Barge Requiem

CHAPTER 4 THE NORTH LANDS

Saga VI Grimsby Embark
Saga VII Hull Cry

CHAPTER 5 THE ATLANTIC ISLES

Saga VIII Gift of Light

CHAPTER 6 ICELAND ICE AND FIRE

Drowning of Doggerland

CODA 7 BEFORE RAGNARÖK

End Notes on the Chapters and Sagas
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Bibliography
About the Author

Endorsements

‘These sagas that are both epic and timeless, and a lyrical evocation of the communities whose lives and livelihoods are bound up with the sea. These are stories of people who have understood our dependence on the riches of the natural world. Stirring and salutary, a beautiful and moving read.’ Tanya Steele, Chief Executive WWF-UK

‘Beautifully crafted and with an imagination [that] speaks to the environmental challenges of today.’ Simon Lyster, Board of Natural England & Northumbrian Water, former Director of The Wildlife Trusts.

‘Rare and audacious, genuinely brave. The natural and the human are presented as inextricably linked, each creating the other over long stretches of time. A book of sounds and rhythms that points to a new genre, a wonderful achievement and a joy to read.’ Geoff Wells, Director, Rural Communities Australia [partner with indigenous communities]

‘Masterly – evocative in substance and eloquent in style. I was transported back to my youth and moments of near terror as gales lashed the shorelines of my beloved home in Cornwall. Full of wonderful narratives.’ Professor Richard Bawden, University of Western Sydney

‘These sagas bring the drama, emotions and practices of the sea-faring world into contemporary relevance without losing the power of past story-telling and lived experiences. Marvellous story-telling and use of language, all sorts of new colours and emotional depths.’ Patricia Gillies, Longman Anthology of Old English, Old Icelandic and Anglo-Norman Literatures

‘Read with great pleasure, thoroughly enjoyable.’ David Orr, Distinguished Professor of Environmental Studies and Politics, Oberlin College Ohio, author of The Nature of Design, Dangerous Years, Democracy Unchained

‘Vivid accounts of the interactions of human culture and nature covering the sweep of history in the North Atlantic. The sagas illustrate both the limits and the possibilities of human actions, given the forces of climate change.’ Professor Tom Dobbs, South Dakota State University

‘Enjoyable rhythms and evocative images, an inspiring [and] creative project.’ Professor Peggy Barlett, Emory University, Atlanta

‘Sea Sagas has arrived on a stage rich in writing of nature and a changing world, but brings its own unique tilt. Jules Pretty has brought us old stories reimagined under the spotlight of contemporary environmental, social and political changes through his complex and lilting narratives of contemporary Sagas for our modern age. They challenge us to make connections and open the spatial and temporal scope of our understandings of past, present and future.’ Liz Gladin, environmental anthropologist and storyteller

‘Extraordinary long-form prose-poems, a reminder of Benjamin Britten’s operas… There is real rhythm and sound and bite.’ Roma Tearne, author of Mosquito, Brixton Beach, The White City

‘I love this work. Stunning lay out, an exceptional text. Don’t change a thing. I love the illustrations too. Collectively it is very evocative, such a deep sense of place, myth, time and history running throughout.’ Rachel Lichtenstein, author of Estuary, On Brick Lane, Diamond Street

‘A wonderfully imagined and written work, filled with vivid stories and characters and with much relevance to all that is happening today.’ Liz Calder CBE, publisher

‘Mesmeric writing, [and] spellbinding magic of the descriptions, the flow of time and sea and the magic of the naming of people and things. An intensely rich cultural treat.’ Robert Golden, award-winning photographer and film-maker

‘I am blown away by the seriousness and achievement; the illustrations are lyrical and minimalist.’ Ken Worpole, author of The New English Landscape and Last Landscapes

‘Engaging all the essence of the epic: high, ennobling, central theme, extensive physical environment, and some kind of journey. A fine and imaginative piece of work, [with] a flow and continuity like the Sea itself.’ David Butcher, author of The Driftermen, The Trawlermen, Living from the Sea, Following the Fishing and The Ocean’s Gift

‘Wonderfully well researched and beautifully written, an antidote to the frustrations of lockdown.’ Mike Mitchell, President, Shellfish Association of GB, board member of Seafish (Defra), author of Hope Street (2015)

‘Intense, ambitious, flowing rhythms and language, evocative of my times spent afloat around the Thames Estuary, and life remembered here on the Colne and Blackwater in memory and myth.’ Fabian Bush, boat-builder, Rowhedge, Essex

‘Very interesting to read, reflecting the character of our rich maritime history.’ Ruth Creasey, Ron Wilkinson and Vic Wheeldon, STAND committee (St Andrew’s Dock Heritage Park Action Group: Hull’s Fishing Heritage)

About the Author

Jules Pretty OBE is Professor of Environment and Society and Director of the Centre for Public and Policy Engagement, University of Essex. He is a nature writer, scientist and storyteller. His books include The East Country (2017), The Edge of Extinction (2014), This Luminous Coast (2011, 2014), The Earth Only Endures (2007), Agri-Culture (2002) and Regenerating Agriculture (1995).

Host of the Louder Than Words podcast; presenter of the 1999 BBC Radio 4 series Ploughing Eden; contributor to the 2001 BBC TV The Magic Bean, he is Chief & Founding Editor of the International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability. He received an OBE in 2006 for services to sustainable agriculture and the British Science Association Presidential Medal (Agriculture and Food) in 2015. He is a trustee for WWF-UK and was appointed President of Essex Wildlife Trust in 2019. This Luminous Coast was winner of New Angle Prize for Literature in 2013, and The East Country was winner of the East Anglian book of the year in 2018.

He is a regular invited speaker at conferences and festivals, and to community and conservation groups. He has spoken at book festivals, on national and local radio. Festival appearances include the Hay Festival, Oundle Book Festival, Larne Folklore Society, Aye Write Festival (Glasgow), Chipping Camden festival, Dartington Festival of Words, Essex Book Festival, River Stour Festival, First Light Festival. Radio work includes for BBC Start the Week, The Moral Maze, BBC Five Live, and regional BBC talk shows.