Beasts of the Sea

A heartbreaking fictional elegy to one of the world's most iconic lost creatures, the Steller's Sea Cow

By: Iida Turpeinen, David Hackston - translator

Narrated by: Lawrence Neale

"A sprawling, seething epic" Lucy Steeds, winner of the Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize

"As deep and profound as the sea itself" Philip Hoare

"Almost hypnotically readable" Guardian

"Remarkable" The Times

1741. The crew of Vitus Bering's ill-starred Great Northern Expedition are shipwrecked off a remote, uncharted island. With no hope of rescue, they give in to despair. Until they discover the flesh of a huge marine mammal that feeds in herds on the kelp in the bay.

1859. The Russian colony of Alaska is on the brink of collapse. Governor Hampus Furuhjelm takes solace in the quest for a unique artefact: a complete skeleton of what is now known as Steller's Sea Cow, rumoured to have disappeared a hundred years before.

Even extinct, the sea cow will continue to shape lives and destinies, from the woman charged with sketching its likeness from its bones, to the expert egg restorer who will refurbish those same bones a century later.

A tribute to an iconic lost creature, and an adventure through three centuries of scientific exploration, Beasts of the Sea charts the unseen consequences of grand human ambitions and the urge to resurrect what we, in our ignorance, have destroyed.

Translated from the Finnish by David Hackston©2023 Iida Turpeinen

Critic reviews

A sprawling, seething epic which intertwines the mysteries of the natural world with their destruction when myth and man collide. Beasts of the Sea is a delicately woven tale of exploration and exploitation; a sharp cry to protect what is precious in the world before it vanishes (Lucy Steeds, author of The Artist)

A wonderfully evocative account of the discovery, destruction and resurrection of a near-mythic sea monster that even now seems to evade our examining eyes - perhaps out of our own guilt. IIda Turpeinen's novel is almost Shakespearean in its drama . . . As deep and profound as the sea itself (Philip Hoare)

A gorgeous, thought-provoking book about the consequences of the human exploration of the natural world (Sarah Brooks, author of The Cautious Traveller's Guide to the Wastelands)

Mesmerising. Near to mythic. This profound and moving novel of lost histories and lives held me captured in its spell (Essie Fox, author of The Fascination)

Almost hypnotically readable . . . interesting; thoughtful; beautifully written

Highly original . . . A remarkable parable of man's often destructive interactions with the natural world

A wondrous, devastating novel . . . I challenge anyone to read Beasts of the Sea and not fall in love with - and mourn - the curious creatures it conjures . . . Reading this magical novel is like peering in awe and terror through the window of a cabinet of curiosities - I will be thinking about it for a long time