Island Cross-Talk – Pages from a Blasket Island Diary –

“… was the first book to come out of the Blaskets, and it firmly placed these little islands, three miles off the coast of Kerry, on the literary map of the world. Drawing on the rich oral tradition of the community, Tomás O’Crohan, the island’s poet and storyteller, recorded vivid, unadorned sketches from everyday life.

He writes of the beauty and the dangers of the sea, the harshness of the weather, and the continual struggle for survival in the face of poverty; but always the hardship is countered by the strength of community spirit, cares are made lighter by friendships, and the island’s inhabitants never lack a tall story or a lively anecdote to enliven a dull moment.”