Research Catalog
Returning light : 30 years of life on Skellig Michael
- Title
- Returning light : 30 years of life on Skellig Michael / Robert L. Harris.
- Author
- Harris, Robert L.
- Publication
- Dublin : HarperCollinsIreland, 2021.
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| Status | Format | Access | Call Number | Item Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Schwarzman Building to submit a request in person. | Text | Use in library | JFD 24-221 | Schwarzman Building - Main Reading Room 315 |
Details
- Description
- 258 pages, 16 leaves of plates : illustrations some colors; 23 cm
- Summary
- "'On Skellig Michael, thousands of birds appear and disappear, erecting towers, coming together in wings of movement which build and unravel over the empty sea. Often, no one else is there to stand beside me on the island. The mind wanders; links with the past are easily made; ancient ways of viewing things come alive.' In 1987 Robert Harris happened upon an unusual job advert in The Kerryman - a new warden service was being set up on Skellig Michael, and the deadline was imminent. Just weeks later he was on his way to set up camp in one of Ireland's most remote locations, unaware that he would be making that same journey every May for the next 30 years. Here he transports us to the otherworldly island, a place that is teeming with natural life, including curious puffins that like to visit his hut. From the precipice he has observed a coastline that is relatively unchanged for the last thousand years - a beacon of equilibrium in an ever-changing world. But the island can be fierce too. Inhabitable only for five months of the year, solitude can quickly become isolation as bad weather rolls in to create a veil between Skellig Michael and the rest of the world, when the dizzying terrain can become a very real threat to life. Returning Light is an extraordinary memoir about the profound effect a place can have on us, and how a remote location can bring with it a great sense of belonging"--Publisher's description.
- Subject
- Genre/Form
- Autobiographies
- Autobiographies.
- Contents
- Part one. A lost map -- A new home -- Secret places -- A toe-hold for habitation -- Part two. A paradise of birds -- Dark interiors -- A vessel suspended upon a far sea -- Architecture of light -- Journey to the Otherworld -- Part three. The weather is changing -- Unexpected encounters -- Brief expositions of eternity.
- Call Number
- JFD 24-221
- ISBN
- 9780008509378
- 0008509379
- 9780008509385 (ePub ebook) (canceled/invalid)
- LCCN
- 2022363221
- OCLC
- 1264399315
- Author
- Harris, Robert L., author.
- Title
- Returning light : 30 years of life on Skellig Michael / Robert L. Harris.
- Publisher
- Dublin : HarperCollinsIreland, 2021.
- Type of Content
- text
- Type of Medium
- unmediated
- Type of Carrier
- volume
- Chronological Term
- 1900-1999
- Other Form:
- ebook version : 9780008509385
- Research Call Number
- JFD 24-221