Storm Pegs: A Life Made in Shetland

Award-winning poet Hadfield (Selected Poems) shares her experiences living and working on the Isle of West Burra, one of the Shetland Islands, in a series of lyrical natural history essays. Sprinkled with words and phrases in the Shetland dialect, her essays are dominated by the sea, fog, and weather of the region. Vivid descriptions of stormy seas and wild weather bring the area to life. Beachcombing, hunting for the elusive sea bean, harvesting razor clams, vegetable gardening, removing beach refuse, swimming in the icy waters, building a home, and watching the varied seabirds and other wildlife fill her days and her work teaching remotely. Hadfield describes her job identifying worm species in salmon muck. She explores nearby islands and describes the controversy surrounding bringing wind turbines to the islands. Folk festivals, myths and legends, relationships with her friends, and the Shetland dialect (glossary included) are woven through her story that teams with beautifully descriptive observations of the area’s land, sea, and natural history.