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