‘Raw, painful, storm-battered writing.        Here’s what it means to be truly isolated.’                           Raynor Winn

‘A sea of hands will reach for I AM AN ISLAND, carrying it like a great flock of birds across the world. I cannot recommend it highly enough’ Elena Bonham Carter

‘An extraordinary book - wild & redemptive’ Olivia Laing

Dream it.

“Out there, floating in that sea, are all the islands. And one, lying just apart from the others, has a derelict croft, standing empty, just waiting for someone to love it, to come and find it, to make it a home at last.” I try not to think about it, but it keeps drifting through my thoughts, coming to find me. As I look out at the dark sea, I know that some new direction is waiting .. And even though it makes no sense, it feels as if we, like the geese, are following a wilder sight or some call of the heart each somehow coming home.”

Build it.

“There is an old saying in the islands - there is no contrivance against necessity. Existing close to nature is not for the faint-hearted; the reality is that sustainability comes at an eye-watering cost. Nature is forgiving but our own expectations are uncompromising. Each day consists of its own weight & balances. It is an irony I struggle to make sense of. The land throws up its gifts but it costs the earth to sustain. You think that running river will always carry you with it - until the day it runs dry.”

Grow it. Love it.

“It is a beautiful day. Across the desk, a clear light is spilling through the window. I try to imagine their little hands reach out to mine. You do that when you are given permission.

Hope is like that. It feels reckless, like taking a beautiful drug.”