A dense and often depressing delve into Ireland’s island life

At the end of a book that is often dominated by human suffering, Diarmaid Ferriter’s postscript ends on a surprisingly upbeat note

The last 23 residents of Inishark Island (sometimes called Shark Island), off the coast of Co Galway, are pictured evacuating the Island in 1960 Getty

History

On The Edge

Ireland’s Off-Shore Islands: A Modern History

By Diarmaid Ferriter

Profile Books, €28.75

‘I hope we’re a nice old couple living off the coast of Ireland,” John Lennon told an interviewer shortly before his death in 1980 when asked how he and Yoko Ono would spend their retirement. This was not just a pipe dream, since 13 years earlier he had bought the 19-acre island of Dorinish in Mayo’s Clew ...