I.ALKYONE -- The Northern Star -- Outward Bound -- Libations -- Mouth -- The Maid on the Shore -- Shanty -- Worm's Head -- II.TAYGETE -- Dive -- Creatures of the Deep -- A Fish in the Shape of a Man -- A Bitter Drink -- Fair Maid's Tresses -- Sea Glass -- Ill.KELAINO -- The Sea Claims the Dead -- A Mist Madrigal -- To Walk on Water -- Stella Maris -- Drownded -- Little Snail -- Byssus -- IV.MAIA -- How to Survive a Storm -- The Harmony of the Gale -- The Silver Lane -- Instead of the Cross, the Albatross -- Grip Fast -- Instruments -- Why the Sea Is Salt -- Fishwives and Cockle Women -- The Lighthouse -- The Eagle with the Sunlit Eye -- V.MEROPE -- The Tide Clock -- Seasick -- A Fairy Hall -- Against the Rock -- Stormalong -- Candles -- VI.ELEKTRE -- Risen from the Sea -- The Shallows -- The Wave -- Catterline in Winter -- High Tide -- Starfish -- A Painted Ocean -- Glow -- VII.ASTEROPE -- My Love Is a Deep Blue Sea -- Milk and Moonlight -- The Sound of the Sea -- When the Light Is at its Weakest -- Spring Tide -- Holdfast -- ATLAS AND PLEIONE -- The Tide Full In.

Charlotte Runcie has always felt pulled to the sea, lured by its soothing, calming qualities but also enlivened and inspired by its salty wildness. When she loses her beloved grandmother, and becomes pregnant with her first child, she feels its pull even more intensely. In 'Salt On Your Tongue' Charlotte explores what the sea means to us, and particularly what it has meant to women through the ages. This book is a walk on the beach with Turner, with Shakespeare, with the Romantic Poets and shanty-singers. It's an ode to our oceans - to the sailors who brave their treacherous waters, to the women who lost their loved ones to the waves, to the creatures that dwell in their depths, to beach trawlers, swimmers, seabirds and mermaids. -- Source other than Library of Congress.