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A journey by sea along the western coasts of Ireland and Scotland in search of islands, both real and imagined

About the Author

Philip Marsden is a writer and journalist. He is the author of several works of travel writing and non-fiction, including most recently Rising Ground (published by Granta in 2014), The Levelling Sea and The Barefoot Emperor, and a novel, The Main Cages. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He lives in Cornwall with his wife and children.

Reviews

A truly remarkable writer
*Robert Macfarlane*

Magical
*Guardian*

[Marsden] writes beautifully... In these islands at the edge of the Atlantic, he finds a rich tradition of myth, poetry and ancient lore that still speaks to us across the gulf of time
*Guardian*

I loved The Summer Isles from page one... Like one of those doorways so popular in Irish myth [it is] a portal not just to other places but to other times... marvellous
*Telegraph*

A triumph... It is unlikely that a finer travel book will be published all year
*Literary Review*

Marsden brings characteristic elegance and insatiable curiosity to bear on his voyage; we are whisked along as passengers, alternately enchanted by this unforgettable coastline and apprehensive of its treachery. Even the most dogged land lubber cannot fail to be exhilarated by these stiff salt breezes
*Madeleine Bunting*

The best book I've read on a sailing trip since Jonathan Raban's Coasting
*Irish Independent*

One of the most brilliant, imaginative and alluring travel books I have read in a long time
*Wall Street Journal*

By turns exhilarating and hauntingly poetic, this is a memorable book, full of reflection and wonder. Long after I'd finished reading it, part of me was still aboard Tsambika, peering into the distance, making out half-shapes, strange sea creatures, mythical kingdoms and snatches of ancient folk songs caught on the breeze... Sublime
*Mail on Sunday*

Beautifully written... As nail-biting as Conrad... Wonderful... Marsden is a subtle and elliptical writer. He never overstates and he is always doing more than it looks at first glance. So at the same time that this is both history and adventure, it is also a journey inward... [A book of] imaginative brilliance and precision... Marsden, more than anyone, understands that imagination, in its ability to conjure islands, is a solid thing
*Elementum Journal*

There is no better guide to the deep and dazzling meanings found on the western fringe of Europe than Philip Marsden
*Patrick Barkham*

Reading Philip Marsden's voyage is the only time in my life I shall want to be lost at sea. Shimmering, profound, and deeply mesmerizing
*John Lewis-Stempel*

Battling unforgiving weather and repairing his boat on the fly, he shares the myths, legends and songs surrounding these mystery-shrouded islands
*Wanderlust*

Thrillingly alive
*National Geographic Traveller*

Philip Marsden [is] one of Britain's great sea writers... a truly beautiful voyage through people and poetry as well as the sea
*Marine Quarterly*