A book that will leave you needing to know more and probably, haring off down the M5 to see Looe Island for yourself.
What an enchanting book! From the first paragraph, I was drawn into Mary and Patrick’s dream and their experiences. It is beautifully written with a poignancy that reaches out and touches the heart.
Mary Considine spent much of her childhood holidays on Looe Island, helping the indominable sisters, Attie and Babs Atkins. These ladies had bought the island in the 60’s and, through offering “working holidays”, managed to keep their frugal lifestyle going until 2004. In her will, Babs left the Island to the Cornwall Wildlife Trust, and this is when Mary was able to realise her dream of living there.
They take a twenty-year lease out on The Island House, committing to renovate it in the most sympathetic and environmentally friendly way they could. Documenting their ongoing battle against the elements in winter, the logistics of getting items to the island make fascinating reading. There are wonderful characters here, the ones who are long gone and the ones who are definitely alive and kicking! We feel Mary’s dilemma when the pigs they have reared are dispatched; when poaching nets have trapped cormorants and when their ducks have husband problems! We also feel her despair when Patrick’s health starts to fail and they are faced with difficult decisions.
Do yourself a favour, read it.