The Summer Isles: A Voyage of the Imagination

by Philip Marsden

From the acclaimed author of Rising Ground, this is the story of a sea voyage to the Summer Isles, an enticing, periodically inhabited archipelago off the Scottish Highlands. To reach them, Marsden must head north, sailing a course along the exposed and exhilarating western coasts of Ireland and Scotland. It is a course that has been followed for centuries by explorers and adventurers, fishermen and monks, all drawn to the western seas and their distant horizons. But as much as the journey of men, this book is about the journey of ideas: of nostalgia and a very particular kind of geographical yearning; of a culture and language that has been shaped by its dramatic topography; of the local legend and lore that live on to this day.

Combining travel writing, memoir and cultural history, The Summer Isles is a book about the search for real places, for imagined places, and for places that might always exist somewhere in between.

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction, Nature, Scotland, Ireland, History, Memoir

352 pages, Hardcover

First published October 8, 2019

About the author

Philip Marsden is the author of a number of works of travel writing, fiction and non-fiction, including The Bronski House, The Spirit Wrestlers and The Levelling Sea. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and his work has been translated into fifteen languages. He lives in Cornwall.

Reviews

[Alex Sarll]

I think Marsden is the first author by whom I've read two books during lockdown, which in turn is because I already had two of his books out of the library, not having realised they were by the same guy, and have I mentioned yet how I still have a nagging suspicion that this whole beastly business has ultimately been using global failures of biosecurity, reporting and basic common sense as tools with which to prod me regarding the amount of unread books in my possession? So simply getting through them too close together is probably part of why I didn't enjoy this as much as Rising Ground. I don't think that's the whole story, though. That was a West Country wander which went further than expected, both in space and time; this one, a journey up the west coasts of Ireland and to a lesser extent Scotland, frequently struggles to reach its goals. Which is part of the point, of course it is – Marsden has a nice line in examining the frustrating paradox whereby any island visited, however fascinating, will never be quite so wonderful as the island out in the mists of which mystical things can be dreamed. But the way that manifests can often be frustrating. Rising Ground's journeys on, well, ground, may often have been as basic as it comes – walking – but, ability permitting, walking will get you where you're going. This time, though, he's sailing singlehandedly, which feels like an image of freedom, but turns out to be a classic example of the limits of liberty. For every moment of communion with waves and dolphins, there are two urgent repairs or small hours awakenings. Neither the new technology, nor the old of the boat itself, seems capable of going ten minutes without something going wrong, and that's aside from the obvious issue of being at the mercy of weather and tides and suitable landing spots, such that in the end a surprising number of the islands end up being visited by ferry while the Tsambika is tied up elsewhere.

When he does get there, too, there's a certain melancholy sameness, with many of the islands depopulated, and always a sense of endings - ages passing, islands deserted, people dying. Western islands were seen as lands of the dead once, Marsden reminds us, our own included, and over it all hangs the shadow of the Anthropocene (though I don't recall the word being used). These deserted villages feel a little too close to home at present; I read the scene in a crowded Irish pub, complete with the craic and the singing that implies, just as we were hearing that pubs could reopen but only under strictly lifeless conditions, and it gave me an almost physical twinge.

However deserted the islands may be, they have of course their stories, and if some usual suspects recur (St Brendan, Yeats, selkies), we also get less familiar incidents, like Antonin Artaud turning up, tripping balls, with what he insists is Jesus' old stick for thwacking evil, which he plans to present to the Druids. This was very much a new one on me, as too the possibility that Belgium is named after Iron Age fannypacks. Hell, even the notes informed me in passing that Jack London used to publish through Mills & Boon, which for all that the company has changed tack over the years, still presents an entertaining image. Yes, the ubiquity in Irish schools of samey stories of tough life on the Blaskets crops up, but so does the lost idol of the Inishkeas. Ultimately, though, in being a personal journey which doesn't quite get there, forever beset by practicalities, it can't help feeling a little more Partridge than Rising Ground. Its most powerful sections talk about how even when you know you're seeing an optical illusion, part of you still wonders what that impossible place is like; how wandering islands were made mundane and fixed once a fire was lit there. I think part of me wishes I'd likewise left the book as a wonderful might-have-been, a Hy-Brasil of the shelves.

[Grant · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loved some of the ruminating about myths and some of the anecdotes, but I gotta be honest, did not really enjoy all the descriptions of sailing up the coast which was, obviously, a big part of the book.

[Sherrie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author's account of his voyage round the coast of western Ireland to the Hebrides. The account is interspersed with tales of Irish folklore and snippets of Irish history, which I must admit I skimmed through towards the end of the book. I hadn't realised there were so many small islands off the coast of Ireland. The most disappointing part was that only a quarter of the book featured Scotland and this was very limited, and due to poor weather, he never made it to the Summer Isles, and that was that, a very abrupt finish to the book.

[Rick · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this book because of the quote by Robert MacFarlane on the sleeve, and what MacFarlane does for the land does Marsden for the sea when he takes his boat to visit the isles on the West Coasts of Ireland and Schotland. Doing this he drifts through geograpy, history and literature (and imagination) when he sails and sees and visits these strings of magical islands. His look is from the sea to the land and that is quite unique, but it is maybe the way it should be done...it is how our ancestors did it. A beautiful book if you love the sea and sailing, or if you love nature and birds, or history and heroes, or literature and fairies. A bit MacFarlane-by-the-sea and that is a compliment for both writers. Lovely book, and how I wish I was there.

[Katie Parry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed this, but be warned that the summer isles themselves are not a major feature. I was brought up around Ullapool and hoped to learn more about the islands and their history from this. In fact, the summer isles are given short shrift - as is the whole west coast of Scotland, which I found a bit disappointing... though this is mostly my fault for not doing more research before! It’s a beautifully written book that I would have loved had I not been primed to expect something else. Reminds me of Robert Macfarlane.

[Vera · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh I absolutely devoured this! This book has everything I love in it: adventure, travel, magic. A beautifully written, lyrical account of a solo sailing voyage around Ireland and Scotland with lots of exploration of local folk tales, traditions, myths, legends, art and song. It absolutely makes me want to get out to sea, desperately. In these depressing and confined times, this book was an antidote to my adventure withdrawal symptoms. Wonderful.

[Anneliese Tirry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Een aantal decennia geleden geraakte auteur Philip Marsden op werkvakantie in Schotland geïntrigeerd door een kleine groep eilanden : the Summer Isles. Hij hoopte die ooit te bezoeken met een tante, maar zij overleed voor ze samen deze tocht konden maken.
Marsden kan echter die eilanden niet uit zijn hoofd zetten en besloot een paar jaar geleden om er solo naartoe te varen vanuit zijn woonplaats in Cornwall en de tocht te maken via de westkusten van Ierland en Schotland. Wat we in het boek lezen is het verslag van deze zeilreis.

Ik heb zeer van dit boek genoten, ik volgde de weg van de Tsambika van eiland tot baai op de bijgevoegde kaartjes, was mee bang van de te harde wind of de te sterke stroming, zocht mee naar the Otherworld, voelde de magie van stille plekken op verlaten eilanden en googelde een aantal van de mensen die hij ontmoette of over wie hij hoorde. Dit is een zeer goed boek, het is veel meer dan het hijsen of strijken van zeilen. Voor de auteur was de tocht evenzeer een reis naar zichzelf als naar de Ierse mythologie als naar the Summer Isles.

[sarote · Rating 5 out of 5]

The pleasure of specificity, words falling into place with a satisfying clunk, the reassuring solidity of vocabulary from circumscribed fields like seafaring or geology or ecology.

The boat leaned away, the lee deck dipping and hissing through the water which burst against the stanchions in puffs of spray

whitish sand-cliffs and a plateau of marram grass

I was clear of Canna, heading for the north coast of Rum, a slow emerging of its slatted geology, its layers of sandstone and the sheen of wet scree

There was a slender wooden sloop with a Norwegian ensign and I came in close to admire the sheer of the hull and the gleam of the varnished spars

How the shape of the land can shape or suggest or reflect meaning:

Others stood as they had been left, roofless, their bare gables the emblem of these western islands, the topography of man's brief occupation, of hubris.

(on abandoned houses)

Ardnamurchan's profile stretched westward, ten miles of glowering barrier, its top muzzled in cloud. It was the geography of impediment, its entire scale a warning, its slopes beneath the white mist built of hostility

(on the westernmost point of the British mainland)

And it is that backdrop - the gritty topography, the fractured shoreline, that has helped sustain the coastline's metaphysics, helped generate the wilder projections of outsiders and inhabitants alike, phantom islands from beyond its headlands, otherwords from beneath its turf.

(on the shared geology of Ireland and western Scotland)

At one point Marsden says, of a drive through Skye with his host pointing out local landmarks along the way, "The route was all story" and it works well as a description of the book. Like the dinnseanchas of Irish legend, the route he travels is just the line on which to hang digressions and (hi)stories that suffuse land and sea with an substratum or undercurrent of meaning. The subtitle is "A voyage of the imagination" and it is indeed concerned mostly with the way the western fringe of the British Isles has captured the imagination of millennia of poets, mystics, explorers, naturalists, and the people who live on its shores. And also the fact (which has annoyed other reviewers but which I found poignant and somehow apt) that Marsden never actually makes it to the Summer Isles which he has imagined for half a lifetime and sparked the idea for the entire trip: bad weather means he can't anchor and can only watch as they speed past, "already shrinking astern" (the last line of the book). They remain hazy, mysterious, perfect and free in their abstraction, figments of the imagination still.

Ceaselessly fascinating and a wonderful use of language - concise and expressive at the same time, metaphors that are unexpected but not flowery (veils of cloud ghouled about the heights; rain leopard-skinned the water), with nuanced discussions of topics like nostalgia and the imagination as well.

[WHKing · Rating 3 out of 5]

Needing an escape, I borrowed this book from the library as it offered a tantalizing story of sailing up the west coasts of Ireland and Scotland. I'm not a sailor but I've always marveled at those brave, adventurous souls who sail, especially in difficult waters.

I know very little of those areas so the book provided some history, background and info on wildlife and nature. Marsden also weaves Celtic folklore and various author's quotes so the reader gets a real feel for the area both past and present and in mythology literature and art. The author really did his homework. Following the story, the author includes chapter notes which give readers more details and a bibliography of his sources which aid the inspired readers wanting more.

What I enjoyed reading about were the interesting places author Marsden stopped along the way and the fascinating people he met, their lives and stories, and those who had lived on the islands years ago. It was sad and revealing that several of the isles were abandoned in recent times.

The author captures the perils of sailing rough waters and the hard work involved. This book made me appreciate more the sailing skill and knowledge needed not only by Marsden but all those who sailed centuries before him. His nautical descriptions went above my head as I'm not at all familiar with them but sailors would enjoy them.

My favorite chapter is Chapter 13 in which he writes about the purple-dye factories that once flourished on Inishkea which were used for manuscripts and "the mystery of the written world".

Like other readers, I was very disappointed that so little was written about his experience of the Scottish islands in comparison to the Irish islands. I wonder why he didn't give the Scottish islands equal time.

Marsden clearly is a good writer. Although this book didn't move me, the journey was engaging and enjoyable.

[Daria Blackwell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. I am a bluewater sailor, and I found his account as a novice taking on the west coasts of Ireland and Scotland refreshing. I know that coast well and always find it mesmerizing, so I found it fascinating that he too saw in it what I know. The magical, mystical majesty of it. I saw it freshly though his fascination.

I found it interesting that Marsden has such a depth of knowledge of Irish history, lore and language. Since I moved to Ireland, I have been learning and sharing the history and lore especially of the islands off the west coast, and this is exactly what Marsden does. He colours in the details with a depth of understanding that a reader needs to experience this place.

The sailing aspect of it should not make anyone shy away as it is not overwhelming in the story. No, the story is one of remembering fondly a time and place when one's soul found joy and happiness that the mind seeks to recreate. And in the journey to that destination, one finds fulfilment of a different kind.

Philip's use of language is masterful. His description of places is profound, making the reader sense and smell and feel the places and the people rather than viewing them with eyes alone. I couldn't put this book down, even though I knew how it would end from the start. "I could now identify two types of islands on my route up from Dingle: those I'd reached and those I hadn't." I thoroughly enjoyed every moment immersed in it.

[Leif · Rating 3 out of 5]

The kind of book that most resembles a stone skipping across deep topics, endlessly skimming the surface. Veteran journalist that he is, Marsden enacts this philosophical survey through literalizing his travel across the western shore of Ireland - I would say and Scotland, yet of the book 3/4 is taken up with Marsden's Irish fascination, and the additional 1/4 is his desires to be done while moving through Scotland's western waterways. This is certainly a discourse of men amongst each other, however - from the boating to the poetry, masculinity rarely moves from center stage. In fact, I believe that the only named women, other than a relative of the author, are both famous and deceased. In contrast are the many sea-wise and historically-minded sailors and antiquarians whose company Marsden seeks. So that's a very real limitation of scope, I would say.

An interesting enough account of one man sailing up the Western shore of Ireland. That's the long and short of it - and it shouldn't take you too long to read.

[Chris OConnor · Rating 5 out of 5]

It took me forever to read this book because every page prompted me to look up some location on the map, to read some extra thing about it.

Raise your hand if you knew that Eric Blair/George Orwell capsized IN the world's second largest whirlpool while fishing there with his toddler son, and managed to get everyone to safety. You can't see because this is a Goodreads review and not some sort of live action thing, but I'm not raising my hand.

I loved this book, and I'm mad as hell at George Orwell for taking his young son into an enormous whirlpool.

[Alasdair MacCaluim · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you love travel, islands, Gaelic folklore and fortea, this is the book for you!

In "Summer Isles", Marsden seeks to sail between the south of Ireland and the Summer Isles in Wester Ross visiting many islands and ports and talking about the people and folklore on the way.

Amongst the subjects raised are imaginary islands such as Uí Bhreasail, the folklore of the Blasket islands and The Naomhóg of Inishkea.

Of particular interest to me was the tale of the Airship of Clonmacnoise - a UFO in medieval Ireland. Many years ago, my Celtic lecturer took us on a trip to the National Library of Scotland and I saw a manuscript about this amazing tale but I was unable to find any references to it again, to the extent that I was starting to think I'd imagined it!

In many travel books to Gaelic Ireland and Scotland, there is little about the people themselves, past or present, and their lives and folklore. This is very much not the case with "the Summer Isles" with the author taking a deep interest in Gaelic and folklore.

On his trip, the author meets many interesting characters, many of whom I've been lucky enough to meet myself over the years. He also covers all the legends of Gaelic folklore collection in Scotland and Ireland over the last two hundred years.

I should say that around 2/3 of the book is about Ireland and that - spoiler alert - he doesn't actually make it to the Summer Isles in the end. So, if your main interest is the Summer Isles, this isn't the book for you. However, if you want to read amazing travel writing with amazing stories of the places visited which is sensitive to their heritage, this is the book for you!

[Ron · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this account of Marsden’s solo sail up the west coast of Ireland and across to the Hebrides. The people he met en route and his memories and thoughts as he progressed were fascinating. I chose the book partly because of the title as I have fond memories of being on the Summer Isles with my pregnant wife and one year old daughter in the heat of the summer of 1976.
I was mightily impressed by the author’s knowledge and scholarly learning although I confess to being confused by many of the myths he mixed with history.
Recommended for sailors, Celts and lovers of the islands off our shores.

[Anne Flood · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this non-fiction book.

It charts the authors journey along the West Coast of Scotland (with several references, but no stopping, at Achill, (where A friend’s family are from) to the Summer Isles in Scotland.

Initially, there is much talk about sailing itself, but as the journey continues, Marsden treats the reader to myths and legends about islands from Ireland and Scotland, and legends of mysterious islands that appear and disappear.

There are a plethora of people met along the way: some eccentric, some linked to boat-building, some artists and some poets, and all are interesting,

The ending was certainly something I wasn’t expecting!

[Robin Sloan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first leg of Philip Marsden’s journey needed backup he said, but clearly not because he is anything other than a very competent sailor. To continue more or less solo up the wild west coast of The British isles made for a good travel book, the references to Celtic folklore and its interconnections with other cultures and mythologies fascinating. I had expected the journey to be more fully described in the later stages, but with the days shortening the Hebridean coast I was most looking forward to went past as if the boat was suddenly jet propelled. For the reader, that part of the journey was a ‘voyage of the imagination’.

[Jennifer O’Connor · Rating 4 out of 5]

One review here compared this book to someone skipping stones over water. I think that is apt. It’s very skillful, and you admire the skill in executing it, but sometimes you crave a bit more depth. There were so very many stories here from so many characters about so many places. It was overwhelming and sometimes unsatisfying, because as soon as I’d engage with the story the author would move on. The book is truly a marvel for how much it encompasses, but I think my preference would have been for a more closely observed story, either about the journey itself or about places of particular interest.

[Steve Brock · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was a Best of the Best for the month of December, 2019, as selected by Stevo's Book Reviews on the Internet / Stevo's Nobel Ideas. You can find me at http://forums.delphiforums.com/stevo1, on my Stevo's Novel Ideas Amazon Influencer page (https://www.amazon.com/shop/stevo4747), on Twitter (https://twitter.com/Stevo4747), on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/brocksteve/) or search for me on Google for many more reviews and recommendations.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

"So now when I picture mythical islands, it is the Summer Isles that come to mind, the view of them from the peaks of Assynt, their dark shapes in a sparkling sea, all they've come to mean to me in the years since. This book is about such places - places drawn by longing and memory, places just beyond our reach, places that aren't really there at all - and it's about what happens when you set sail in search of them."

[Judith Greve · Rating 2 out of 5]

I bought the book because I love going to Scotland, especially the Highlands and spent a couple of days in Achiltibuie, opposite of the Summer Isles. I can't wait till Covid is history and I'm able to go there again. Seeing the title and short description I expected to be reading more about Scotland but the main of the book is about Ireland. And as I don't care about sailing it wasn't the right book for me.
If you like sailing and Ireland it will be a very good read for you.

[Christine Best · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author sails up the west coast of Ireland with the eventual goal of going to the Summer Isles in the north of Scotland. This is a travelogue but also a meditation on the idea of the the islands in the West as other worlds, other places; either mythical or sequestered in memory or by time. It is intriguing, and well referenced and sourced for a travel book. It does however end rather abruptly and the Summer Isles remain as elusive as ever.

[Samantha · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an excellent book and I feel like I have travelled the coast with him. It took me AGES to read as it was best savoured in short bursts and perhaps not gripping enough to draw me back to read it as often as I should have. My copy has lots of little dog eared pages where I wanted to return to some perfect lines or quotes.

[Paul Tubb · Rating 5 out of 5]

This will become a classic of yachting literature, and Marsden's understanding and exposition of the geographical imagination, the eremetic tradition, myth, and the nature of the Atlantic facade are outstanding.

Shame about the ubiquitous MacFarlane quote on the cover, though. This is far beyond anything RobMac the Pretentious could manage

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Magical! What more could I ask of a book! The author sets sail from Cornwall, alone in a wooden sailing boat and travels up the west coast of Ireland, then across to the west coast of Scotland. Full of history, legend, art, Gaelic and "Gaalic" and wonderful people and locations! A joy to read from beginning to end!

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely account of a solo sailing trip up the west coast of Ireland and Scotland, encompassing history, language, geology, mythology, maritime practicalities and memoir. It was just the kind of journey I was looking for after finishing Circe.

[Ellen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Always love me a travelogue that connects language with place!

And he quoted a professor from the tiny liberal arts college I attended.

I always wonder if his wife (and MacFarlane's) gets to go on similar haunts leaving the kids in his care.

[Lynne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful, poetic writing that paints a picture for the reader. I think you will enjoy this if you like the scenery of Ireland and Scotland or like sailing, Most of the story takes place along the coast of Ireland.

[Georgina Collins · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed Marsden's historical and cultural explorations of the islands and coastlines, and his descriptions of sailing despite not being a sailor myself. I was somewhat confused by the sudden ending, however, and the lack of reflection or explanation of his not reaching the Summer Isles.

[Ellie T · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this, but felt a bit let down by the ending (not as let down as he maybe felt!)

a mainly solo journey along the west coast of Ireland and across to the Summer Isles. Lots of fascinating folklore and history and an eventful journey with many iter

[Richard Thorn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Erudition shines through. A masterful narration of travel, and myth exploration from south to north along the west coasts of Ireland Scotland