“Good grief. It was the strangest and most awe-inspiring place I'd ever been. And for more than a thousand years, it had been appearing as if by magic after storms, as the seething tide withdrew to reveal a forest standing in the sea.”

“Lost to the sea” is a book about a wide variety of topics, daisy-chained together by the ocean’s impact on them. It explores vanished geographies, traditional storytelling, archaeology, to name a few. A book with such a wide variety of themes could easily feel disjointed, but Woollett avoids this. Periodically and regularly, the author’s cool, almost soporific voice brings us back to the fundament: the ocean.

This was a non-fiction book in which the author was very present, in ways literal, positive and negative. Woollett speaks in the first person, narrating her experiences as she travels to meet people and to see phenomena for herself — her teenage daughter occasionally makes an appearance too. This is clearly a subject Woollett is passionate and knowledgeable about. She at times has a poet’s voice, even as she conveys information, which made this an accessible read and one with merits based even just on the prose. However, I felt she sometimes strayed into conjecture or wishful thinking, especially in the more anthropological sections.

Ultimately, I enjoyed this book. It was very gentle and easy to read, and made good bedtime reading. I would recommend it if you like prettily written books, or enjoy nature non-fiction.

It's maybe a shame that the book follows a highly regarded book on the same subject and so there is quite a bit of overlap in the places visited. However this book is less an account of the lost places themselves and more of a personal travel book. It is beautifully written and very thoughtful. For me these two books work well together and I feel anyone who enjoyed the first book will find a place on their bookshelves for this more personal account of the lost places of Britain. And conversely people who come to this book first and enjoy it, will probably seek out Shadowlands to find more history and factual details of the places we have lost to the sea. I enjoyed this book, and found that having previous knowledge enhanced my reading of it.

Lost to the Sea is an enjoyable trip around the British Isles finding places where, as the title suggests, a town, village, or other settlement has been lost to an encroaching sea. The book is a mix of Lisa Woollett's own travels to these places and historical background (actually much like the other book I read about flooded lands a couple of months back!). It was a pretty enjoyable read although, as with the aforementioned other book, I was more interested in the historical background and that research than the author's personal experiences. It was well-written, though, and definitely a book I'd recommend.

A really beautiful book, taking the reader on a journey around coastlines and oceans, with gorgeous photos and an ancient atmosphere.