Tim Ecott – Eva and the Island: Life at the Loneliest Farmhouse in the World

Description

What is it like to live on an island of one’s own? Set on an inaccessible land encircled by high cliffs, one dangerous footpath that leads down to a rocky shoreline, and no boat, Eva and the Island is journalist and author Tim Ecott’s meticulous observation of the brutal reality of farming and a vanishing, but remarkable, way of life

Eva is the eighth generation of her family to run the single farm on Stóra Dímun, within the Faroe Islands, and one of two permanent residents, the other being her husband. Covering six hundred and fifty windswept acres, there are five hundred sheep, one milking cow, six bullocks, and some elderly geese and chickens, alongside a rich variety of birdlife. As the only inhabitants and with no harbour or beach, the couple believe in preserving traditional methods of farming and rely on the sheep meat for their main income.

Based on a longstanding friendship and frequent and lengthy visits, Ecott involved himself in everything from herding sheep on the slopes, shearing animals, dosing them, to slaughtering and butchering them come autumn. Eva and the Island is an astounding true story of bravery, self-reliance, and sustainability in the face of isolation. Through evocative illustrations, powerfully lyricism, and the author’s passion for the natural world, you’ll envy the island yet be astounded at the perseverance needed to maintain it.

Tim Ecott is a non-fiction author and former BBC World Service correspondent specialising in Africa and the Indian Ocean. As a freelance contributor he has written for the Economist, The Times, Telegraph, and Guardian. He continues to contribute to BBC Radio output on the World Service and Radio 4. For many years he has been a regular visitor to the Faroe Islands.