Island Life 101

Looe Island, off the Cornish coast, enchants all who visit, with its beauty and tranquillity. But the island's history is full of mystery and intrigue. In Island Life: A History of Looe Island, writer David Clensy reveals the island's many unknown secrets - from its early monastic inhabitants, to the sinister 18th century smugglers who used it as a place to land and stow their booty. Discover how the island witnessed the opening shots against the Spanish Armada, and was bombed during the Second World War. The author brings us up to date, with an affectionate portrait of the indomitable Atkins sisters, who lived on the island for more than 30 years, and explains how the island has been passed on to the care of the Cornwall Wildlife Trust. The book includes an in-depth interview with Babs Atkins, conducted just a few years before her death. David Clensy works as a newspaper feature writer. He fell in love with Looe Island as a boy, and has worked as a volunteer on the island for more than a decade.