Elisabeth Tova Bailey’s essays and short stories have been published in the Missouri Review, Northwest Review and the Sycamore Review. Winner of the John Burroughs Medal (US) and the William Saroyan International Prize for Nonfiction, she has also received several Pushcart Prize nominations. The essay on which this book is based received a Notable Essay Listing in Best American Essays. She lives in Maine, US.

Once in a while a read comes along which transcends all expectations and Elisabeth Tova Bailey’s The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating was just such a book for me. ... Fabulous, a triumph, and it will remain a favourite forever.

• Foreword by Helen Macdonald ProloguePart I - The Violet-Pot AdventuresField VioletsDiscoveryExplorationsPart II - A Green KingdomThe Forest FloorLife in a MicrocosmTime and TerritoryPart III - JuxtapositionsThousands of TeethTelescopic TentaclesMarvellous SpiralsSecret RecipesPart IV - The Cultural LifeColonies of HermitsMidnight LeapA Snail’s ThoughtsDeep SleepPart V - Love and MysteryCryptic LifeAffairs of a SnailBereftOffspringPart VI - Familiar TerritoryReleaseWinter SnailSpring RainNight StarsEpilogueAcknowledgementsAppendix: TerrariaSelected Sources

Elisabeth Tova Bailey’s essays and short stories have been published in the Missouri Review, Northwest Review and the Sycamore Review. Winner of the John Burroughs Medal (US) and the William Saroyan International Prize for Nonfiction, she has also received several Pushcart Prize nominations. The essay on which this book is based received a Notable Essay Listing in Best American Essays. She lives in Maine, US.

Once in a while a read comes along which transcends all expectations and Elisabeth Tova Bailey’s The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating was just such a book for me. ... Fabulous, a triumph, and it will remain a favourite forever.

• Foreword by Helen Macdonald ProloguePart I - The Violet-Pot AdventuresField VioletsDiscoveryExplorationsPart II - A Green KingdomThe Forest FloorLife in a MicrocosmTime and TerritoryPart III - JuxtapositionsThousands of TeethTelescopic TentaclesMarvellous SpiralsSecret RecipesPart IV - The Cultural LifeColonies of HermitsMidnight LeapA Snail’s ThoughtsDeep SleepPart V - Love and MysteryCryptic LifeAffairs of a SnailBereftOffspringPart VI - Familiar TerritoryReleaseWinter SnailSpring RainNight StarsEpilogueAcknowledgementsAppendix: TerrariaSelected Sources

Elisabeth Tova Bailey’s essays and short stories have been published in the Missouri Review, Northwest Review and the Sycamore Review. Winner of the John Burroughs Medal (US) and the William Saroyan International Prize for Nonfiction, she has also received several Pushcart Prize nominations. The essay on which this book is based received a Notable Essay Listing in Best American Essays. She lives in Maine, US.

Once in a while a read comes along which transcends all expectations and Elisabeth Tova Bailey’s The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating was just such a book for me. ... Fabulous, a triumph, and it will remain a favourite forever.

• Foreword by Helen Macdonald ProloguePart I - The Violet-Pot AdventuresField VioletsDiscoveryExplorationsPart II - A Green KingdomThe Forest FloorLife in a MicrocosmTime and TerritoryPart III - JuxtapositionsThousands of TeethTelescopic TentaclesMarvellous SpiralsSecret RecipesPart IV - The Cultural LifeColonies of HermitsMidnight LeapA Snail’s ThoughtsDeep SleepPart V - Love and MysteryCryptic LifeAffairs of a SnailBereftOffspringPart VI - Familiar TerritoryReleaseWinter SnailSpring RainNight StarsEpilogueAcknowledgementsAppendix: TerrariaSelected Sources