Bailey, Elisabeth Tova (2010) The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating. Little, Brown and Company.
Winner of The Saroyan International Prize for Writing (2012), the John Burroughs Medal (2010), and the National Outdoor Book Award in Natural History Literature (2010)
This book was selected by the members of the Alberta Wilderness Association Book Club as the choice for the October 2026 read. Thanks to Mike Jones for recommending it.
The title alone was intriguing enough to open this book!
The species featured (and depicted on the cover) in The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating is the white-lipped forest snail (Neohelix albolabris), a common woodland land snail found in northeastern North America.
This book tells the intimate portrayal of a woman in her thirties, who was struck down by a pathogen that attacked her immune system, that led her to being bedridden. Her caregiver brought her a snail from the forest, and put it in her potted violets by her bed, to keep her company. This small creature became the focus of the patient’s life for almost a year. She learned to appreciate its slow and methodical life, and in turn to appreciate the slowing down of her own life while she was ill. The book was written later on after she had recovered somewhat and could do some research. It is a fascinating look into a creature that is often ignored.
Following is one of my favourite passages from the book:
“I never would have guessed what would get me through this past year - a woodland snail and its offspring. I honestly don’t think I would have made it otherwise.
Watching another creature go about its life...somehow gave me, the watcher, purpose too. If life mattered to the snail and the snail mattered to me, it meant something in my life mattered, so I kept on.”
I really loved the sweet sketches.
There are several different snail drawings throughout the pages.
Screenshot from the short trailer [1]
A short 15-minute film, inspired by the book and directed by the author, Elisabeth Tova Bailey, was presented in 2019 at the 8th edition of the Brattleboro Film Festival and entered the official selection of the 2019 American Conservation Film Festival. [1]
This is an interesting book with a wonderful back-story. It is not a difficult read and is a smallish book with only 208 pages, so relatively easy to read. I really enjoyed it, and the members of our book club also enjoyed it (despite the references to snail slime). I do recommend this book!
[1] Wikipedia - The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating. Accessed September 13, 2026. You can also view a one-minute trailer of the film on the ÉCU Film Festival YouTube channel.
