Eyes in the Soles of My Feet is a collection of essays about the natural world reflected through the lens of people and events in author Caroline Sutton's life: aging parents, grandchildren, husbands, and dogs. Sutton (How Do They Do That?) uses her relationship with her granddaughter, a welcome Covid-19 transplant to their home by the ocean, as a frame through which to consider. For instance, putting her granddaughter to bed for the night occasions the discussion of the sleep habits of tuna. Sutton is a keen observer whose wide-ranging curiosity functions as a compass, directing her attention onto a vast landscape of subjects that she investigates in elegant, unsentimental prose. She has a gift for making nature's complexity easier to comprehend without overlooking the profound and unknowable.
Sutton's essays meander and converge in surprising ways. One moment, she's delving into the seldom seen battles of insects such as hornets and spiders, her language as meticulous as a scientist's diagram. The next, she's reflecting on moral versus aesthetic perfection.
The topics may seem disparate--the ecology of a tidal estuary, Peruvian geoglyphs--but they are gracefully brought together by Sutton's relentless compassion and observation. Her essays are less about their subjects and more about the act of looking closely at something until its hidden intricacies reveal themselves. She teaches readers that a single phenomenon, such as a bird's migration pattern, can be a doorway to a broader understanding of the world. Eyes in the Soles of My Feet is a celebration of this investigative spirit, a book for anyone who finds wonder in details and the connections between them. --Elizabeth DeNoma, executive editor, DeNoma Literary Services, Seattle, Wash.