Dark Day on the Blaskets

Book excerpt: A compelling portrait of a young woman as well as an engrossing portrait of West Kerry at a turning point in its cultural history, Dark Day on the Blaskets weaves an intricate tale out of the intersecting lives of Eileen Nicholls, one of the finest scholars in the new national movement, James Cousins, a poet and playwright from Belfast, and his wife Gretta, who had been involved with the suffragette movement. Dubhnshlaine follows the intensely mystical month in the Great Blasket leading up to the discovery of Eileen's body, which was found off the coast of the island.