Book 64 - We couldn't leave Dinah

We couldn't leave Dinah by Mary Treadgold - first published in 1941

The story is set on the fictional island of Clerinel in the English Channel in 1940.  Its location is somewhere between the Channel Islands and England.  The Germans have invaded the Channel Islands but on Clerinel life is continuing as normal despite the threat of invasion due to the island's strategic importance.

13 year old Caroline and her 14 year old brother Mick are enjoying their summer holidays with their father and younger brother Thomas at their home on Clerinel.  They are enthusiastic members of the local Pony club, which has just moved to a new headquarters in a cave near the sea.  Peter Beaumarchais is the Pony Club President and he holds a fancy dress/masked carnival party (on horseback of course).  Caroline and Mick don't like dressing up and they attend reluctantly.  However in the middle of the party they learn that the Germans are about to invade Clerinel and they are to be evacuated.  In the confusion of the evacuation Caroline and Mick get left behind on the quay while their father and Thomas sail to England.  They return to their home but soon realise that they cannot stay there as it has been requistioned by a German officer and his granddaughter.  They move to the Pony Club's HQ in the cave, taking Mick's pony Punch with them.  They are assisted by Peter Beaumarchais whose family decided to stay on Clerinel and whose father tries to arrange for them to be evacuated.  A few days later they realise that they can be of great assistance to the British intelligence service in foiling German plans for an invasion of Britain.  Despite being the title of the book, Caroline's pony Dinah doesn't play a huge role in the story.  Being a children's book there is a happy ending.

The book was written in 1940 when the threat of a German invasion was very real and the outcome of the war was by no means certain.  The book is a cross between a Famous Five adventure and the dozens of pony stories I read as a child.  It does feel a bit dated in some of the attitudes to social class but it is still a good yarn.

Clerinel is a fictional island but the descriptions match the rockier parts of the coast of Jersey and Guernsey.  6/10

 Bonne Nuit Bay, Jersey

 

 La Greve de Lecq, Jersey

La Prevote, Guernsey

Book 63 - Bergerac and the Fatal Weakness

Bergerac and the Fatal Weakness by Andrew Saville - first published in 1988

This book is a novelization of the BBC TV series Bergerac, which starred John Nettles in the title role and ran from 1981-1991.  His character Jim Bergerac was a Detective Sergeant in the States of Jersey Police Bureau des Etranger.  This department investigated crimes committed by foreigners on the island of Jersey.  Bergerac is a divorced recovering alcoholic with a very rich ex-father-in-law and a teenage daughter.

A young boy called Matthew comes to the police station and says he has been kidnapped but no one believes him.  A short while later a Portuguese waiter goes missing from Bergerac's friend Diamante Lil's bar and then Lil is attacked at the bar after she disturbs a burglar.  Bergerac investigates and eventually realises that the 3 incidents are linked.  Matthew's father is the Chief Planning Officer for an English council and he is currently writing a report about the merits of different bids for a tender for a large development.  His wife and son are kidnapped and taken to Jersey so that he will recommend a particular bidder.  Bergerac rescues them.

This isn't great literature but it is fast paced and very readable.

Islands covered - Jersey   6/10

Matthew and his mother are kept hostage in a tower like this one.  This one is at Ouaisne Common.

Book 62 - Appointment with Venus

Appointment with Venus by Jerrard Tickell - first published in 1951

Venus is a pregnant cow living on the fictional island of Armorel in the summer of 1940.  The father of her calf was a famous pedigree bull called Mars, who was blown to bits after stepping on a landmine.  The unborn calf is therefore very precious, as it is the last genetic link to a perfect bloodline.  However the Germans have just invaded the Channel Islands.

The British secret services hatch a plan to rescue Venus.  They hope that the Germans won't know how important Venus and her calf are.  However Commander Hans Weiss the German officer sent to take charge of Armorel used to be a farmer and he realises her importance and arranges to send her off to Germany.    The British enlist the help of Nicola Fallaize, the sister of the Suzerain (ruler) of Armorel, who left Armorel before the German invasion, and she and 2 men - Valentine Morland and Sergeant Forbes - are tasked with retrieving Venus.  They are landed on Armorel by an alcoholic sailor who knows the waters around the island like the back of his hand.

With the help of Nicola's cousin Lionel and a small boy called Georges against all odds they succeed in their mission but it doesn't end happily for everyone.

Armorel is a fictitious island but it closely resembles Sark.  The story seems far fetched but having watched many documentaries about the activities of SOE in Europe during the Second World War, I realise that several equally crazy missions were carried out successfully during World War 2.

A film was made of the book in 1951.  I haven't seen the film.  7/10

 La Grande Greve, Sark with Brecqhou in the distance

 La Prevote, Guernsey

Little Sark

Book 61 - We Bought an Island

We Bought an Island by Evelyn Atkins - first published in 1975

This is the story of how two 2 middle aged single sisters, Babs and Evelyn (Attie) Atkins came to buy Looe Island in Cornwall in 1964.  They started out intending to buy a holiday cottage in Cornwall and ended up buying two adjacent tiny cottages in West Looe and when the previous owners were forced to sell up due to ill health, they bought Looe Island as well.  Buying the island proved to be easier than moving there with all their many worldly possessions, due to winter storms and the fact that the island is only accessible by boat for a few hours either side of high tide.  However the sisters, who seem to have been very positive thinking people, were undaunted and with the help of several friends they made in Looe they overcame all the obstacles to move to the island.  The story stops at this point and is continued in Evelyn's second book Tales from Our Cornish Island.

Islands covered - Looe Island, also known as St George's Island.  7/10

 Looe Island from the Hore Stone

 Island House where Babs and Attie lived

 Island House and Jetty Cottage looking north towards the mainland

Book 60 - Island Life: A History of Looe Island

Island Life: A History of Looe Island by David Clensy - first published in 2006

This books is very short but Looe Island is so small that I was surprised that there was so much to write about it!

The book is a bit dull in places but it is comprehensive and covers the island's monastic past, possible visit by Joseph of Arimithea and Jesus to purchase lead, its subsequent use by smugglers and farmers and its purchase in 1964 by two sisters from Surrey - Evelyn (Attie) and Roselyn (Babs) Atkins.  There are some photos but they are in black and white and aren't very clear.

The book starts with an account of the last few days of Babs Atkins' life, which is very sad.   She died in 2004 and bequeathed her beloved island to the Cornwall Wildlife Trust.  She is buried on Looe Island.  Evelyn wrote two books about their life on Looe Island - We Bought an Island, which was published in 1976 and its sequel Tales from our Cornish Island, which was published in 1986.  Evelyn died in 1997.

Islands covered - St George's or Looe Island 5/10

 Looe Island from Hannafore

 Island House

 Smuggler's Cottage

Looe Island Ferry

 Babs Atkins' grave in a peaceful spot on Looe Island

Book 59 - An Island Parish: A Summer on Scilly

An Island Parish: A Summer on Scilly by Nigel Farrell - first published in 2008

This book was written by the director of the BBC TV series An Island Parish, which aired in 2008.  I saw a couple of the episodes but not the whole series.  The author spent the spring and summer of 2007 talking to some of the inhabitants of the Isles of Scilly and accompanying some of them as they went about their daily lives.

When I read the book I had recently returned from a holiday on the Isles of Scilly, so the places mentioned were familiar to me.  The book is an engaging read but at times it felt too much like a fly on the wall documentary and I felt I was intruding into the private lives of the people featured e.g the new chaplain, vet and policewoman.  Presumably they gave their consent to the filming and their inclusion in the book.  The difference is that the film showed them at first hand while the book is the author's interpretation of their stories.  The book shows clearly the fragility of island life at the mercy of the weather and political and economic decisions made in places far away.

 St Agnes Lighthouse

 Nag's Head Rock, St Agnes

 Peninnis Point, St Mary's

 Peninnis Point, St Mary's

Book 57 - Somewhere More Simple

Somewhere More Simple by Marion Molteno - first published in 2007

23 year old Cari accepts a temporary teaching post on St Mary's, the largest of the Isles of Scilly, because the remembers staying there for 2 months as a child after crossing the Atlantic Ocean with her parents and sister in a small yacht.  Her husband Andrew accompanies her but he seems only to be interested in writing his thesis.  

After a chance meeting on St Martin's Cari falls in love with Hugh, a farmer and sailing instructor, and starts an affair with him.  However although he is divorced his life isn't straightforward.  Cari also eventually gets to know one of her neighbours on St Mary's, an artist called Anna.  Anna too has sadness in her past: a failed marriage and her son was drowned in a sailing accident off the Isles of Scilly a few years earlier.

While on a school trip to the mainland Anna's niece Yvonne, who lives on St Martin's and knows Hugh well, goes missing in Plymouth.  Anna is sent to find her.  Hugh is initially blamed for causing her disappearance but he has nothing to do with it.

Life for Cari, Anna and Hugh is anything but simple, so the title is a bit misleading, although a simpler life was probably what Anna and Cari were hoping for when they moved to the Isles of Scilly.  I found Cari's character rather annoying because she didn't seem to have any interest in trying to save her marriage.  6/10

Islands covered - St Mary's and St Martin's

 Higher Town, St Martin's

 Town Beach, Hugh Town

 Hugh Town from The Garrison

 Higher Town Beach, St Martin's

 Great Bay, St Martin's

Watermill Bay, St Mary's

Book 56 - Why the Whales Came

Why the Whales Came by Michael Morpurgo - first published in 1985

Michael Morpurgo has written dozens of books for children, including Warhorse, but this is the first one I have ever read.  It is set on the island of Bryher in 1914.

10 year old Gracie and her friend Daniel make friends with a deaf man known locally as the Birdman and his dog Prince even though their parents have warned them to stay away from him because all the islanders think he is mad.  The islanders also stay away from the neighbouring uninhabited island of Samson because they believe it is cursed.

After the outbreak of the First World War Gracie's father joins the Royal Navy.  Gracie's mother struggles to manage financially while he is away.  One day Gracie and Daniel decide to help Gracie's mother raise some money to buy food by going fishing in one of Daniel's father's boats.  However while they are out fog suddenly descends and they get lost and land on Samson and have to spend a terrifying night there.   They suspect that Birdman is also there because a fire has been lit on the top of one of the hills but they cannot find him.  The fire keeps them warm through the long night.  When the fog lifts they are able to row back to Bryher.  Shortly afterwards Gracie's mother receives a telegram saying that Gracie's father is missing, presumed drowned.  Gracie blames herself for his death because of her visit to the cursed island of Samson.  

One day a narwhal beaches itself on Bryher and Birdman, Gracie and Daniel try desperately to return it to the sea.  Birdman says if they don't manage to get it back in the water the other narwhals that they can see swimming in the bay will also beach themselves and Bryher will be cursed like Samson.  Samson is cursed because in the 19th century a school of narwhals was stranded on the beach there and the islanders slaughtered them all for their tusks.  Gracie and Daniel have to try and persuade the islanders of Bryher not to kill the stranded whale and to prevent the rest of the school from beaching.  7/10

Islands covered - Bryher, Samson and Tresco

 Bryher from Tresco

Hell Bay, Bryher

Samson from Taylor's Island, St Mary's

Book 55 - Midnight on Lundy

Midnight on Lundy by Victoria Eveleigh - first published in 2009 , republished in 2012 as A Stallion called Midnight.

12 year old Jenny lives on Lundy with her widowed farmer father.  She has always been home schooled by another islander but then she wins a scholarship to a boarding school in Bideford, North Devon.  She really doesn't want to go and leave her father and the herd of semi wild Lundy ponies that she has secretly befriended, especially the stallion called Midnight, whose trust she has gradually been able to gain.  However the other islanders and visitors think he is dangerous and for this reason and to prevent in-breeding in the small herd he is taken to the mainland by boat.  His future is uncertain, as he proves to be untameable.  Will Jenny be able to save him before he ends up as pet food?  Of course she will, although she soon learns that owning a horse isn't as simple as she thinks it will be.

The story is set in the 1960s when the north and south lighthouses on Lundy were still manned and the island was still privately owned.  It reminded me strongly of the many pony stories I read and enjoyed as a child in the 1970s.  The locations on Lundy that feature in the story are well described e.g. Tibbetts, The Earthquake and the old quarries would easily be recognisable to anyone who has visited Lundy.  There is a good sketch map of the island at the front of the book and a summarised history of the real Lundy ponies at the back of the book.  8/10

Islands covered - Lundy

 The Earthquake

 Landing Beach, Rat Island and South Light

 Tibbetts

 North Light

 Old Light

Book 54 - Steep Holm Diary

Steep Holm Diary by Howard and Rosie Smith, first published in 2006

Steep Holm is a small island in the Bristol Channel, about 5 miles west of the seaside town of Weston-super-Mare.  It was bought by the Kenneth Allsop Memorial Trust in 1976 and has been run by them ever since.

Howard and Rosie Smith, who live in Weston-super-Mare, obviously have a deep affection for Steep Holm.  This book is the story of the work carried out on the island by the 2 wardens and a dedicated band of enthusiastic volunteers between 2001 and 2006.  They renovated the old Victorian barracks, cleared paths, monitored and cared for the island's wildlife and welcomed visitors.

The book is a slim volume and is easily lost on the shelves of a library, which is probably why it hasn't been borrowed much.  However it is a real gem.  It was originally published in the Weston and Somerset Mercury as a series of diary articles. The text of the book was written by Howard Smith.  The book is lavishly illustrated with colour drawings done by Rosie Smith of the island from every angle, its flora & fauna, buildings, the remains of the military batteries and archaeological remains.  The book also contains a hand drawn map of the island and a potted history.  An excellent little book - small but perfectly formed. 10/10

Islands covered - Steep Holm 

 One of the old batteries

 The Bristol Queen - this was the island's passenger ferry during the period covered by the book

 Gull chick on Steep Holm, July 2006

 Rudder Rock, Steep Holm

 The landing beach and old pub, east coast of Steep Holm

 East coast of Steep Holm

Book 53 - The Chalet School and the Island

The Chalet School and the Island by Elinor M Brent-Dyer – first published in 1950

This is the 21^st book in the Chalet School series, which has 58 volumes in total.  I own the whole set and have read them all, although not in the correct order.  This isn’t the best of the series but it is set on the fictional island of St Briavel’s off the south west coast of Wales. 

The original Chalet School was set up in the Austrian Tirol in the early 1930s (hence the name) as a multi-lingual girls’ boarding school.  The school was forced to move in the late 1930s when it became obvious that war was approaching.  It moved first to Guernsey and shortly after to Armishire (Herefordshire).  

The Chalet School is forced to relocate to a temporary location because major work needs to be done to the drains at their school in Armishire.  Most of the girls are delighted to be on an island, which has opportunities for swimming, rowing and boat trips to the nearby island of Brandon Mawr to see the seabirds nesting on the cliffs.

Annis Lovell, who is a pupil at the Chalet School has to live with her aunt during the holidays because her father has died.  Her aunt is cold and resents having to look after her niece and makes this obvious to her.  Annis is determined to prove that she can support herself financially and not be reliant on her aunt’s grudging charity.  However her attempt to row to the mainland to start her new independent life, nearly ends in tragedy when she loses her oars and is shipwrecked on the nearby rocky island of Vendell.    5/10

Book 52 - Try a little Lowliness

Try a little Lowliness: Memoirs of a Cistercian Novice by Paddy Lyons - first published in 2009

Paddy Lyons spent several years in the early 1960s living as a novice with the community of Benedictine monks on the island of Caldey, which is located a mile or so to the south of the town of Tenby in Pembrokeshire.  Known as Brother Daniel he had to learn to live a very simple and austere life of study, worship, prayer and hard physical labour on the monastery farm largely in silence - the monk communicated using sign language.  The monks ate a vegetarian diet, were allowed one bath a week and attended numerous church services throughout the day and night. Daniel struggled to live according to the very strict Rule of St Benedict.

The monks weren't always assigned the jobs they were best at and consequently Daniel, who was not the most gifted musician had to play the organ at some of the daily services.  The monk who was given the job as cook wasn't great at it and so most of the food they ate was unappetising.

Despite being vegetarians the monks kept battery hens and broiler chickens in far from ideal conditions, which seemed to be at odds with their gentle spirituality.

There are however some humorous moments in the book e.g. the strange behaviour of an elderly monk with dementia and the swimming lessons in the sea that the monks had to take after the visiting Abbot General of the Cistercian Order discovered that most of them couldn't swim. 

What is most striking is the austerity and complete obedience in the life of the monks.  Peace abounds but what seems lacking is joy.  During Daniel's time on Caldey many other potential recruits came and left.  For various reasons most of them were unable to accept the lifestyle of an endless cycle of work, study and prayer with no leisure time.

After a few years Daniel left Caldey and married and had children and a career but his reasons for leaving are not part of this book.

This book gives a rare insight into a very private world.  9/10

Islands covered - Caldey 

 Calvary - looking north towards the mainland

 Priory Beach

 Cliffs on the east coast looking towards Paul Jones Bay

 Caldey Lighthouse

 The Abbey

 Priory Beach

 St David's Church

Book 51 - Dream Island

Dream Island: Record of the Simple Life by R.M. Lockley - first published in 1930

I loved this book.  It is written in the style of an old fashioned Boys Own adventure.  Having fallen in love with the Welsh island of Skokholm during a short visit with a friend, Ronald Lockley leased the small island from 1927.  This book is the account of his first couple of years on the island.  During this time he made the derelict farmhouse inhabitable, caught and sold rabbits, established a small holding with a goat, a pony, some sheep and some chickens and did a bit of lobster and crayfish fishing.

In an age when health and safety regulations hadn't been invented, he and his friends sailed to and from the island in all weathers and had several hazardous crossings and narrow escapes.  He seems to have been a natural optimist and had no trouble befriending the locals on the mainland and persuading some of them to help him with the building work.  A timely shipwrecked schooner which came to rest on Skokholm's coast provided him with building materials with which to repair the farmhouse and enough coal to last him many years.  He also salvaged the figurehead, the sails, the ship's bell, the cook's galley and the wheelhouse and re-used them.

R.M. Lockley married his friend Doris during his first summer and they spent their honeymoon sailing round the other islands of Pembrokeshire and landed on Grassholm, Ramsey, North Bishop and South Bishop.  Later he rescued a survivor from another shipwreck - the SS Molesey.

The flora and fauna of the island are well observed.  The fauna were mainly seabirds including puffins, gulls, razorbills, storm petrels and manx shearwaters.  The book also has an index - an extra point for that. 9/10

This was the author's first book but he went on to write 50 other natural history books either on his own or with other people. He established a bird observatory on Skokholm in 1933. He died in 2000 aged 96

Islands covered - Skokholm, Skomer, Ramsey, Grassholm, the Bishops and Clerks.

Book 50 - The Lost Days of Summer

The Lost Days of Summer by Katie Flynn - first published in 2011

It is September 1939 and 15 year old Nell Whitaker is sent to a farm on Anglesey from her home in Liverpool to live with her aunt Kath, who she has never met before, because her mother wants to join the WAAF.

At first Kath is very critical of Nell but gradually, as they get to know each other and she realises that Nell is a hard worker, her attitude softens.  Nell makes friends with Bryn who helps out on the farm until he joins the Merchant Navy and then later with a land girl called Maggie, who also comes from Liverpool, and Bryn's friend Hywel, with whom she falls in love.

Eventually Kath tells Nell her life story.  She confides in her about her strained relationship with Nell's mother Trixie.  John the man she loved but who died in the First World War, her subsequent marriage to his friend the Anglesey farmer Owain and the hostility she faced from Owain's grandmother who resented her presence because she thought Owain should have married a local girl.

I'm not a great lover of family saga type books but this was an enjoyable read and there is an unexpected happy ending.

Islands covered - Anglesey, Holy Island

 Four Mile Bridge joining Holy Island and Anglesey

 Cemaes, Anglesey

 Trearddur Bay, Holy Island

Book 49 - Trumpet Morning

Trumpet Morning by Maureen Peters

Eleven year old Nell Petrie lives with her eccentric but loving grandparents Taid and Nain and various uncles and aunts on a farm on the island of Anglesey.  It is 1940 and the Second World War is beginning to have an effect on all their lives.  One by one her uncles join the armed forces and before the year is out, the family has experienced birth, marriage, death and foot and mouth disease.   In many ways the bonds between them become stronger as a result of the year's events.  I don't read many family sagas because I find them a bit boring .  However this story is told in a light hearted way and is an enjoyable read.  7/10

Islands covered - Anglesey and Holy Island

 Menai Bridge, Anglesey

 Britannia Bridge, Anglesey