Island life

    

    I make no apologies for writing today both here and on Cornflower about books by Michael Faulkner, that's because I've enjoyed both of them immensely, they should if possible be read in tandem, and while the one with all the words belongs on this site, the second more pictorial volume suits Cornflower very well.

    I'm sure our paths must have crossed a few years ago as, like me, Mike was formerly an Edinburgh lawyer (and that's a small world), but he left the profession to set up a furniture design and manufacture business. Sadly, the venture eventually failed, and Mike and his wife, the artist Lynn McGregor, left Scotland and moved to Mike's native Northern Ireland where they made their home on an otherwise uninhabited island in Strangford Lough.

     The Blue Cabin: living by the tides on Islandmore is the story of their new life in what was the family's summer house, a glorified hut that was once accommodation in a First World War internment camp on the Isle of Man, and since then had seen only occasional, fair weather use. But undaunted by the practical difficulties, the relative isolation, the inevitable restrictions on all sorts of activities imposed by weather and water, the pair have made a real go of it, and I'm sure there will be many readers (myself included) who would relish that sort of existence or who would at least enjoy living it vicariously through the book! As Mike says, "here was an opportunity to take back our lives, and how often do you get to say that?" He's right, and he and Lynn, though clearly well-suited temperamentally to such a change of tack, have certainly made the most of it.

    Along with all the stories of life on the island today - and they are both funny and quite hair-raising - there are many reminiscences of the time when the cabin was sanctuary of sorts for the wider Faulkner family. Mike's father was the politician Brian Faulkner, the last Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, and his stories of that time are both very touching and interesting, and some could not have been easy to write, but they make the perfect background to and contrast with the contemporary parts of the book and set everything naturally and easily in context.

    Having got a real taste for Islandmore and the pleasures and challenges of living there, I - from the comfort of my cosy armchair with all amenities to hand, of course - wanted more, so I went straight on and read Mike's second book, and please do go over to Cornflower and find about that one there.

Comments

[Deirdre]

Both of these titles will be on my book list! As an islander myself, I am sure I will enjoy and recognise some of the island stories! Thanks for telling us about these books.

[Cornflower]

You're welcome, Deirdre.