A deeply personal memoir about the search for home.

'I was gripped from start to finish . . . it is written with skill and expertise with all the conviction and authority it needs to enthral' Miriam Darlington, author of Otter Country Dan Boothby had been adrift for more than twenty years, looking for but never quite finding the perfect place to land. Finally, unexpectedly, an opportunity presented itself. After a lifelong obsession with Gavin Maxwell's Ring of Bright Water trilogy, Boothby was given the chance to move to Maxwell's former home, a tiny lighthouse island on the western seaboard of the Highlands of Scotland. Island of Dreams is a charming celebration of this remote, sea-girt land; it is about Boothby's engagement with the natural world and the otters that surrounded him there, about the people he met and the stories they told; and it is about Boothby's own story, and his quest to better understand the mysterious Gavin Maxwell. 'The writing is as crisp as the coastal air, shot through with the humour of humanity and bright animal magic' Iain Finlayson, Saga 'A lively, often funny tribute to the place and to the people he meets there' Daily Mail 'Remarkable' The National

Dan Boothby had been drifting for more than twenty years, without the pontoons of family, friends or a steady occupation. He was looking for but never finding the perfect place to land. Finally, unexpectedly, an opportunity presented itself. After a lifelong obsession with Gavin Maxwell's Ring of Bright Water trilogy, Boothby was given the chance to move to Maxwell's former home, a tiny island on the western seaboard of the Highlands of Scotland.
Island of Dreams is about Boothby's time living there, and about the natural and human history that surrounded him; it's about the people he meets and the stories they tell, and about his engagement with this remote landscape, including the otters that inhabit it. Interspersed with Boothby's own story is a quest to better understand the mysterious Gavin Maxwell.
Beautifully written and frequently leavened with a dry wit, Island of Dreams is a charming celebration of the particularities of place.