An Island Odyssey

In An Island Odyssey, Hamish Haswell-Smith casts off in his forty-one-foot sloop Jandara, armed with his sketch pad and a route map of a journey first taken by Martin Martin in 1703. Haswell-Smith sets sail on a voyage that will take him to fifty-two different islands around the Scottish Coast, from Ailsa Craig in the Firth of Clyde to St. Kilda, Fair Isle and Bass Rock. Filled with natural history, local legend and landscapes and accompanied by the author’s own distinctive sketches and watercolours An Island Odyssey is a delightful way to discover or rediscover the romance, beauty and inescapable magnetism of the Scottish Islands.

Reviews of An Island Odyssey

* A fascinating voyage … Here are legends, anecdotes as well as telling descriptions which will tempt anyone to revisit or discover these enchanting islands. If you are unable to do so, the voyage through this book will be just as enchanting from your armchair Yorkshire Herald * Haswell-Smith captures the dark power of skerries and crags, the infinite charm of bays, boats and old stone crofts … He has floated us to places he makes us want to see for ourselves, but may never do so. He practises a form of enchantment, a form of yearning, like the timeless vistas themselves Inverness and Highland News * A fascinating book and one which I could have done with before I went to some of these islands as I would have understood them better North Star * A great winter-by-the-fire read Playboy * A monumental labour of love that communicates the author's own passion for island hopping and combines it delightfully with his further talents as a painter and artist Daily Telegraph on The Scottish Islands * Splendid…The author has sailed the waters around the Scottish Islands and brings all their pleasures in words and watercolour paintings to these pages Gazette and Herald * A book to delve into as it gives a fascinating glimpse of the mosaic of islands around the coast … an important historical account at a time when many of the islands are changing forever Associated Press