Blasket Spirit

Seeking solitude after personal crisis, Anita Fennelly spent a summer alone on the Great Blasket Island. This is her account, written by candlelight, of the gradual thawing of her personal isolation through the friendship of the characters of Blasket Island life today: fishermen, ferrymen, backpackers, islanders’ descendants, a dolphin, a weaver, a trio of seals and even a former taoiseach. Anita weaves a tapestry of tales: ghost stories told by the fireside, stories of love and betrayal, stories celebrating womanhood. Ultimately, Anita’s own story is one of survival and hope.

Blasket Spirit reveals a timeless place where the souls of the past and present are inextricably linked with the emotional and physical struggles of island life. Into this story of personal healing and recovery, the island stories, its people and places and wildlife are interwoven to form an original and multi-layered memoir.