The Draw of the Sea

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When you can’t be in your favourite place all the time, catch up on the latest stories, upcoming events, holiday ideas, and offers with a newsletter straight to your inbox. In this mesmerising collection of short sketches; Menmuir explores the lives and stories of people's different experiences of the sea, including his own. It isn't just about living near the water or working on the water, it is how life, of the person, the sea, and the community, all come together into a whole. Beautifully written and truly unique, The Draw of the Sea is up there with the very best writing on nature and the great outdoors.

They include the beachcomber, the lobster fisherman, rock pool enthusiasts, free divers, surf board makers, dawn swimmers, gig rowers and artists. The Chalke History Festival announces a new name, new look, and tons for history buffs to get their teeth into! As unmissable as it is compelling, as profound as it is personal, this must-read book will delight anyone familiar with the intimate and powerful pull which the sea holds over us. Sprinkled with lovely black and white photos, this book would make an ideal gift or just for anyone who enjoys the coast, particularly in Cornwall. Wyl Menmuir’s The Draw of the Sea is a beautifully written and deeply moving portrait of the Cornish Coast and the people who make their livings there, examining the ephemeral but universal pull the sea holds over the human imagination.These portraits of people who are married to the ocean tell us much about ourselves but there is only one star in this book - the sea itself - magnificent, untamed, mysterious, often generous, sometimes deadly but always connecting us with distant shorelines and ultimately each other. It was also a fascinatingly rich and endlessly joyful insight into the lives of communities and people for whom the sea is more than just a landscape. Wyl Menmuir explores the different ways in which people can be drawn to the sea, content to leave it a mystery why they are drawn – and perhaps the mystery is the point.

The Draw of the Sea is a meaningful and moving investigation into how we interact with the environment around us, how it comes to shape the course of our lives, and what we have to lose – as individuals and as a society – if we don’t acknowledge its significance. Wyl considers what the ocean and the shoreline mean to the many people who live and work in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. A former journalist, Wyl has written for Radio 4’s Open Book, The Guardian and The Observer, and the journal Elementum. Here you'll meet beachcombers ('wreckers'), surfers, sailors, fishermen, conservationists, artists and everyone in between. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice.They reach blindly out with their extensive members in the hope of encountering a nearby mate – of either sex, barnacles being hermaphroditic. Wyl Menmuir's The Draw of the Sea is a beautifully written and deeply moving portrait of the sea and the people whose livelihoods revolve around it, examining the ephemeral but universal pull the sea holds over the human imagination. This book is a meaningful and moving work into how we interact with the environment around us, and how it comes to shape the course of our lives . It's grim reading in places, but we do also meet people who are trying to make a difference - and the author admits that there can be a sort of syncronicitous beauty in the bizarre findings from beaches, even in all that plastic. With each encounter, he draws out sometimes unexpected truths from those who work and play in Cornwall’s waters.