Whenever a whale washes up on one of Britain’s coasts, a fugitive community descends to claim trophies from the carcass. Some driven by magical beliefs, some by profit: there is a black market for everything from ambergris to whale tooth sex toys. Meet witches, pedlars, fetishists, conspiracy theorists and fallen aristocrats.
‘Wild and wonderful’ Philip Hoare
‘Addictive and scandalously fascinating’ Caught by the River
Dr Peter Riley is Senior Lecturer in American Literature at Exeter University and the winner of The Ideas Prize for non-fiction (2020).
Now the subject of a BBC Radio 4 documentary
