Pabay: An Island Odyssey
Christopher Whatley Birlinn, 2019 320 pages Hardback, £20.00 ISBN: 9781780275796
Small islands can have a big influence. As places to visit, to escape to, or to own, they exert a powerful attraction. Island life certainly carries a romance, to which generations of writers and tourists have fallen prey. But island life can be hard, requiring courage, fortitude, and enormous amounts of effort and labour.
Pabay, by Christopher Whatley, explores the modern history of the small island that lies in Broadford Bay, Skye. It was bought by Len and Margaret Whatley – the author’s uncle and aunt – in 1950, and they were to live and work on the island for the next two decades. Christopher, now Professor of Scottish History at the University of Dundee, was…
