See https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/feb/27/top-10-books-about-women-and-the-sea#comment
As someone who knows about the huge range of gendered maritime history I find the list to be mainly about the metaphysical sea. It's about the outsider's idea of the timeless sea as something one romantically gazes upon, rather than an element one works with, today.
And it's very interesting and thought provoking. I hope people will add their own favorites.
1. Female Tars: Women Aboard Ship in the Age of Sail by Suzanne Stark (non fiction)
2. The Waves by Virginia Woolf (fiction)
3. The Water Cure by Sophie Mackintosh (fiction).
4. The Summer Book by Tove Jansson (fiction)
5. The Outrun by Amy Liptrot (fiction)
6. Petticoat Whalers: Whaling Wives at Sea by Joan Druett (non fiction)
7. Sea Journal by Lisa Woollett (autobiography)
8. The Gracekeepers by Kirsty Logan (fiction)
9. The Salt Path by Raynor Winn (autobiography)
10. Katie Morag’s Island Stories by Mairi Hedderwick(fiction)
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| The best of all, in my view |
Commentators also recommended:
- The Log of the S.S. The Mrs Unguentine by Stanley Crawford (fiction)
- El SIglo de las Luces (Explosion in a Cathedral, usually, in English) by Alejo Carpentier (fiction).
- Ahab‘s Wife, Sena Jeter Naslund (fiction)
- Watercolour Sky (fiction) William Riviere
- The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See (fiction)
- Diving Belles: And Other Stories by Lucy Wood (fiction)
New suggestions are being added by the hour so I recommend that you keep visiting the site for some really good ideas.
NOTE
Runcie is a journalist and the writer of a new book: Salt on Your Tongue: Women and the Sea. (Canongate, 2019)
It is described as:
- 'A lyrical exploration of the sea, how it inspires art, music and literature and how it connects us'
- 'An ode to the ocean, and the generations of women drawn to the waves or left waiting on the shore'.
