Pabay: An Island Odyssey

(Hardback)

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Description

Pabay lies in Skye's Inner Sound, off the crofting village of Breakish and the small adjoining town of Broadford. One of five Hebridean islands of that name, it derives from the Norwegian papa-ey signifying 'island of priests'. Many visitors since the first holy men built their chapel there have felt that Pabay was a spiritual place, including the great 19th century geologists Hugh Miller and Archibald Geikie, for whom the island's rocks and fossil-laden shales revealed much about the nature of creation itself.

The Whatley family moved to Pabay from the Midlands and lived and worked there from 1950 until the 1970s. The author, the nephew of Len and Margaret Whatley, spent long periods on the island, experiencing the trials, tribulations and joys of island life. In this book he uses his own and his family's experiences as conduits into the island's deeper history, which has never been told.

Reviews

'Beautifully written, and presents a richly detailed and fascinating historical narrative. Whatley delves into the islands past and the people who have made Pabay their home. It's as much a testimony to how people have shaped the island and how the island has shaped them'

* Dundee Courier *

'Historically insightful and charmingly personal'

* Scottish Field *

'The inspiring story of how a family left the city behind to set up home on their very own isle of dreams'

* Sunday Post *

'An island history almost without comparison... one of the finest Highland books of the 21^st Century ...There has, to my knowledge, never before been one devoted entirely to the tiny Pabay in Broadford Bay. Nor has there been written quite so good a book, on this or any other Scottish subject'

-- Roger Hutchinson * West Highland Free Press *

'This Odyssey is replete with cases of the past and present colliding, of scandals and skirmishes, pilgrimages and political spats, and it creates a vivid depiction of the many trials, tribulations and joys of island life'

-- Neil Drysdale * Press and Journal *

Author Bio

Christopher Whatley, OBE, FRHistS, FRSE is Professor of Scottish History at the University of Dundee. His publications include the award-winning The Scots and the Union and, more recently, Immortal Memory: Burns and the Scottish People.