Blasket Bound : Memoirs of an Island Caretaker

Lesley Bond and her partner Gordon were the first couple to embark on the six-month caretaking residency on the Great Blasket Island. A unique blend of personal reflection and historical context, Blasket Bound reveals how the past continues to shape the present.

‘A rich, sonorous debut... these pages stream by effortlessly. Top quality landscape writing by an author who can feel place and pattern in her waters and then flip those sensations on to the page with grace, subtlety, and unforced poeticism...Bond’s language wafts with the rare essence of a rare location’.  Hilary White, Irish Independent‘An intriguing memoir of place, heritage and history...Bond accurately depicts the force and impact landscape can have’. Miriam Mulcahy, The Irish Times‘An ode to the island of which Bond was a devoted caretaker…the prose is simple, descriptive, and poetically beautiful…through her carefully painted words, the island comes to life.’ Chani Anderson, Irish Examiner‘A beautifully written book, you will feel like you went to the island yourself’.  Oliver Callan, RTÉ Radio 1‘Like those who came before me, I arrived as an outsider, but the island does not allow one to remain separate for long. It takes root and leaves a mark you cannot shake.’Lesley Bond and her partner Gordon were the first couple to embark on the six-month caretaking residency on the Great Blasket Island, one of Ireland’s most remote and historically rich locations. With no electricity, hot water or modern conveniences, their daily existence was like nothing they had experienced, and echoes of the past remained ever-present. As well as chronicling their encounters, Lesley delves into the lives of the island’s last inhabitants and the circumstances that led to their evacuation in the 1950s. A unique blend of personal reflection and historical context, Blasket Bound reveals how the past continues to shape the present. It is an exploration of identity, illustrating how the environments we inhabit and the histories we inherit leave an indelible mark.