Sea Room: An Island Life in the HebridesIn 1937, Adam Nicolson's father answered a newspaper ad—"Uninhabited islands for sale. Outer Hebrides, 600 acres. . . . Puffins and seals. Apply."—and thus found the Shiants. With a name meaning "holy or enchanted islands," the Shiants for millennia were a haven for those seeking solitude, but their rich, sometimes violent history of human habitation includes much more. When he was twenty-one, Nicolson inherited this almost indescribably beautiful property: a landscape, soaked in centuries-old tales of restless ghosts and Bronze Age gold, that cradles the heritage of a once-vibrant world of farmers and fishermen. In Sea Room, Nicolson describes and relives his love affair with the three tiny islands and their strange and colorful history in passionate, keenly precise prose—sharing with us the greatest gift an island bestows on its inhabitants: a deep engagement with the natural world. |
Contents
Section 17 | 237 |
Section 18 | 254 |
Section 19 | 257 |
Section 20 | 275 |
Section 21 | 290 |
Section 22 | 295 |
Section 23 | 298 |
Section 24 | 312 |
Section 9 | 127 |
Section 10 | 155 |
Section 11 | 174 |
Section 12 | 177 |
Section 13 | 182 |
Section 14 | 189 |
Section 15 | 203 |
Section 16 | 206 |
Section 25 | 316 |
Section 26 | 337 |
Section 27 | 350 |
Section 28 | 370 |
Section 29 | 373 |
Section 30 | 375 |