Book 76 - Island on the Edge: A Life on Soay

Island on the Edge: A Life on Soay by Anne Cholawo - first published in the UK by Birlinn in 2016

I read this book geographically out of sequence because hadn't been published when I started this blog and I only became aware of it through a chance conversation with someone while out on a walk.

In 1989, on the last day of her first visit to the Hebrides, Anne Pacey from Bedfordshire saw an advertisement for a house for sale on the island of Soay, which is located off the south coast of Skye.  A few weeks later she returned to look at Glenfield House and fell in love with Soay's peace and beauty.  She bought the house without really thinking through the practicalities of living on a small island with no shop or regular ferry service.  She moved to Soay in May 1990.  At this time the population of the island was 17.

Glenfield House was damp and had no electricity.  The other islanders were a great practical help to Anne in her first few weeks and months on Soay and with their help she managed to overcome lots of practical obstacles, which might have prevented her from staying on the island.

Gavin Maxwell bought Soay in 1946 and set up a short lived (until 1948) basking shark fishing business on the island.  One of his assistants, Tex Geddes, was still living on Soay with his wife Jeanne when Anne arrived and they became friends and helped each other out in various ways.
Anne lived very frugally and made a living by selling paintings and winkle pickings.  She grew her own vegetables and collected driftwood to burn in her Rayburn.  She bought a small dinghy and later she had the use of another islander's motorboat.  In 1998 she bought her own boat, Sally B.

A month after her arrival on Soay Anne met Robert Cholawo, who was working for the Royal Marines who visited Soay for training exercises.  The became friends and years later they married. One by one over the years the inhabitants of Soay moved off the island for various reasons or died.  A few people moved in to replace them but by 2004 the population was just three, including Anne and her husband Robert.

Most of the book is about Anne's life on Soay from 1990-2002. This book demonstrates that you need stamina, adaptability and resourcefulness to live on a small island.

Islands covered: Soay and Skye

Book 75 - The Chapel at the Edge of the World

The Chapel at the Edge of the World by Kirsten McKenzie - first published in the UK in 2009

This novel is based on some real life events but with fictitious characters.  This is the true story:

In January 1942 1,200 Italian prisoners of war, who had been captured in North Africa, were sent to camps on the uninhabited Orkney island of Lamb Holm (500 of them) and the larger inhabited island of Burray.  Their task was to assist the contractor Balfour Beatty in the building of what later became known as the Churchill Barriers.  These are 5 causeways linking Orkney Mainland and the four islands lying in a chain to the south: Lamb Holm, Glimps Holm (uninhabited), Burray and South Ronaldsay.  The 5th and lesser known Churchill Barrier links Burray to the small island of Hunda.  The purpose of the causeways was to protect the eastern side of the deep water anchorage of Scapa Flow, which was used as a base by the Royal Navy, from attack by the Germans.  In October 1939 HMS Royal Oak was sunk by a U-boat in Scapa Flow and 833 men lost their lives.

 

Initially the Italians refused to work on the barriers and went on strike because the Geneva Convention forbade the use of prisoners of war in "war work".  However they were eventually persuaded that the barriers were needed to link the islands together to improve communications for the islanders of Burray and South Ronaldsay.  Today the Churchill Barriers are used to carry the A961 road from St Mary's on Orkney Mainland to South Ronaldsay

The Italians at Camp 60 on Lamb Holm persuaded the camp commandant Major T.P. Buckland to allow them to build a chapel on Lamb Holm. Domenico Chiocchetti, an artist and sculptor, recruited craftsmen such as plasterers, blacksmiths and electricians from amongst his fellow prisoners.  Together they transformed 2 Nissen huts into a wonderful chapel using readily available materials and trompe l'oeil.  The corrugated iron walls were covered with plasterboard, an altar was constructed and ornate ironwork was used to create the sanctuary screen.  A concrete façade with a small belfry was built in front of the entrance.  The inside was painted to resemble brickwork and Domenico Chiocchetti painted a Madonna and Child mural as the altarpiece. 

 

The Italians left Orkney in 1944. In 1960 Chiocchetti returned to Lamb Holm for 3 weeks to help restore the chapel, which has been looked after by the local people ever since.  The Italian Chapel as it is now known is one of the main tourist attractions on Orkney. 

 

In the novel Emilio Sforza, who lives on Lake Como is sent to fight for the Italian army in North Africa.  He is captured in June 1941 and he and his friend Bertoldo are sent to Orkney to work on the Churchill Barriers. They are later involved in the creation of the chapel on Lamb Holm.

 

Meanwhile Emilio's girlfriend Rosa remains at home on Lake Como, where she assists her mother in the running of a small hotel.  After the surrender of Italy to the British in September 1943, Rosa joins the Italian resistance movement and assists in the fight against the Nazis. She has a brief affair with a childhood friend Pietro before he is killed by the Nazis This is actually the more interesting of the two parallel stories.

 

After the war Rosa and Emilio marry and many years later they are invited back to Orkney.  However by this time Emilio is suffering from dementia

 

The book title is a bit overdramatic - Orkney is not the edge of the world, although it might have seemed like it to the Italian prisoners of war.

 

Islands covered: Lamb Holm, Orkney Mainland

 

 

 

Italian Chapel, Lamb Holm

 

Inside the Italian Chapel - a masterpiece of trompe l'oeil

Statue of St George slaying a dragon outside the Italian Chapel

 Memorial to the men who died while working on the construction of the Churchill Barriers

Burray from Glimps Holm showing Churchhill Barrier No 2 and Blockship

Book 74 - The Magic of the Scottish Islands

The Magic of the Scottish Islands by Terry Marsh (author) and Jon Sparks (photographer) - first published in the UK in 2002

This is a lovely book with more photographs than text.  The photographs are stunning and showcase the Scottish islands in a wonderful way.  Although there are a huge number of islands to cover and not that much space for text, the author has achieved a good balance between providing information about the human and natural history and geography of the islands and summing up what makes each island special.  The title of the book is The Magic of the Scottish Islands and Terry Marsh has managed to convey this.  I met him by chance while I was geocaching on Shetland Mainland in June 2017 and he told me about this book, which had escaped my notice until then.

These quotations about 3 of my favourite islands explain beautifully what makes them magical places:

"Fair Isle is magically fair: a resilient place with resilient people.  The weather comes and the weather goes but the subtle magic of Fair Isle remains."

With regard to the seabird colonies at Hermaness, Unst, Shetland:
"The impact is awesome, breathtaking, lasting and humbling.  You sit.  You watch. You listen. You feel privileged.  Because that's how to behave in this kind of company.  You don't ever want to leave,"

"There is an aura of calm and friendliness about North Ronaldsay, a small island beneath a huge sky."

North Ronaldsay Lighthouse, Orkney

 

Puffins on Fair Isle

 

North Lighthouse, Fair Isle

 

Muckle Flugga and Out Stack from Hermaness, Unst

Book 73 - Canvey Island

Canvey Island by James Runcie - first published in the UK in 2006

The book opens on the night of 31^st January 1953 when there was a huge tidal storm surge in the North Sea, which led to extensive flooding of coastal areas on the eastern side of England from Lincolnshire to Kent and also in the Netherlands.  Much of Canvey Island off the south east coast of Essex lies below sea level and large parts of the island were inundated by seawater on that night and 58 people died there.

Martin Turner's mother Lily drowns as she is trying to escape from their bungalow with Martin while her husband Len and sister Violet are out at a dance together.  Martin is swept to safety and reunited with his father and aunt.  Violet's husband George is mentally fragile as a result of his experiences in the Second World War and after Lily's death Len and Violet become very close. 

The novel follows Martin through his life as he goes to Cambridge University to study engineering in order to prevent events like the North Sea Floods from reoccurring, separates from his Canvey Island girlfriend Linda, marries fellow Cambridge student Claire, moves to Brighton and has a daughter Lucy.  In 1983 Claire suddenly leaves her teaching job and takes Lucy to live at the Greenham Common Peace Camp.  Martin temporarily gets back together with Linda.  George's mental health continues to deteriorate and Len begins to age.

The novel has many short chapters, which are told from the perspectives of the main characters in turn - Martin, Len, Violet, George, Linda and Claire.

This is what James Runcie has to say about his own book "Canvey Island tells the story of changing times in post-war Britain through one family’s tragedy and loss. It is a novel about past wounds and past passions, about growing up and growing old, about love, hope and reconciliation."

St Katherine's Church - now Canvey Island's Heritage Centre

 

King Canute Pub - formerly called the Red Cow and used as a rescue centre in 1953, as it is located on slightly higher ground

 

Post 1953 Sea wall on the coast of Canvey Island