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