Search
Log in
  • Home

  • Categories

  • Audiobooks

  • E-books

  • For kids

  • Top lists

  • Help

  • Download app

  • Use campaign code

  • Redeem gift card

  • Try free now
  • Log in
  • Language

    🇳🇱 Nederland

    • NL
    • EN

    🇧🇪 Belgique

    • FR
    • EN

    🇩🇰 Danmark

    • DK
    • EN

    🇩🇪 Deutschland

    • DE
    • EN

    🇪🇸 España

    • ES
    • EN

    🇫🇷 France

    • FR
    • EN

    🇳🇴 Norge

    • NO
    • EN

    🇦🇹 Österreich

    • AT
    • EN

    🇨🇭 Schweiz

    • DE
    • EN

    🇫🇮 Suomi

    • FI
    • EN

    🇸🇪 Sverige

    • SE
    • EN
  1. Books
  2. Biographies
  3. Autobiographies

Read and listen for free for 30 days!

Cancel anytime

Try free now
0.0(0)

Returning Light : 30 Years of Life on Skellig Michael

‘On Skellig Michael, thousands of birds appear and disappear, erecting towers, coming together in wings of movement which build and unravel over the empty sea. Often, no one else is there to stand beside me on the island. The mind wanders; links with the past are easily made; ancient ways of viewing things come alive.’

In 1987 Robert Harris happened upon an unusual job advert in The Kerryman – a new warden service was being set up on Skellig Michael, and the deadline was imminent. Just weeks later he was on his way to set up camp in one of Ireland’s most remote locations, unaware that he would be making that same journey every May for the next 30 years.

Here he transports us to the otherworldly island, a place that is teeming with natural life, including curious puffins that like to visit his hut. From the precipice he has observed a coastline that is relatively unchanged for the last thousand years – a beacon of equilibrium in an ever-changing world.

But the island can be fierce too. Inhabitable only for five months of the year, solitude can quickly become isolation as bad weather rolls in to create a veil between Skellig Michael and the rest of the world, when the dizzying terrain can become a very real threat to life.

Returning Light is an extraordinary memoir about the profound effect a place can have on us, and how a remote location can bring with it a great sense of belonging.


Narrator:

  • Robert L. Harris

Format:

  • Audiobook

Duration:

  • 9 h 31 min

Language:

English

Categories:

  • Biographies
  • Autobiographies
  • Biographies
  • Adventure and history
  • Personal development
  • Health
  • Climate, nature, and animals
  • Climate and geography
  • Climate, nature, and animals
  • Wild animals
  • Climate, nature, and animals
  • Nature
  • Culture
  • Arts and photography
  • Lifestyle and hobby
  • Travel

Others have also read

Skip the list
  1. General Grant and the Verdict of History

    Frank P. Varney

    audiobook
  2. Lost in Shangri-La : A True Story of Survival, Adventure, and the Most Incredible Rescue Mission of World War II

    Mitchell Zuckoff

    audiobook
  3. Double Ace

    Robert Coram

    audiobook
  4. Boyd

    Robert Coram

    audiobook
  5. Land of Men : "Wind, Sand and Stars "

    Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

    audiobook
  6. Rebel Yell : The Violence, Passion and Redemption of Stonewall Jackson

    S. C. Gwynne

    audiobook
  7. Flying Through Midnight

    John T. Halliday

    audiobook
  8. Sherman

    B.H. Liddell Hart

    audiobook
  9. Speak Softly & Carry A Big Stick : Theodore Roosevelt, The Square Deal President

    Theodore Roosevelt

    audiobook
  10. The American Civil War: History in an Hour

    Kat Smutz

    audiobook
  11. The Battle of Britain

    James Holland

    audiobook
  12. The Great Anglo-Boer War

    Byron Farwell

    audiobook

Help and contact


About us

  • Our story
  • Career
  • Press
  • Accessibility
  • Partner with us
  • Investor relations
  • Instagram
  • Facebook

Explore

  • Categories
  • Audiobooks
  • E-books
  • Magazines
  • For kids
  • Top lists

Popular categories

  • Crime
  • Biographies and reportage
  • Fiction
  • Feel-good and romance
  • Personal development
  • Children's books
  • True stories
  • Sleep and relaxation

Nextory

Copyright © 2025 Nextory AB

Privacy Policy · Terms ·
Excellent4.3 out of 5