I Am An Island

I Am An Island

The Sunday Times bestselling memoir of one woman’s search for belonging

Summary

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

'Memoir of the year' - Vogue

'A wondrous, sensuous memoir of salt-stung survival . . . clear-eyed and poetic prose' Sunday Times

'A fascinating memoir' - Daily Mail

When Tamsin Calidas first arrives on a remote island in the Scottish Hebrides, it feels like coming home. Disenchanted by London, she and her husband left the city and high-flying careers to move the 500 miles north, despite having absolutely no experience of crofting, or of island life. It was idyllic, for a while. But as the months wear on, the children she'd longed for fail to materialise, and her marriage breaks down, Tamsin finds herself in ever-increasing isolation.

Injured, ill, without money or friend she is pared right back, stripped to becoming simply a raw element of the often harsh landscape. But with that immersion in her surroundings comes the possibility of rebirth and renewal. Tamsin begins the slow journey back from the brink.

Startling, raw and extremely moving, I Am An Island is a story about the incredible ability of the natural world to provide when everything else has fallen away - a stunning book about solitude, friendship, resilience and self-discovery.

Reviews

  • A wondrous, sensuous memoir of salt-stung survival… clear-eyed and poetic prose. Over and above everything else, I Am an Island is a hymn to the wild, full of fine observation of the natural world. A message that rings true for these testing times.
    The Sunday Times

About the author

Tamsin Calidas

Tamsin Calidas is a writer and photographer living in the wilds of the Scottish Hebrides.

She worked in various roles in advertising, publishing and the BBC before giving it all up in 2004 to move to a tiny, remote island in Scotland to run a derelict croft with sheep and horses.
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