Book received from NetGalley.

I got through the book, but the author is extremely whiny in the first few chapters. She complains that she only agreed to sign up for the job on Skomer with her then boyfriend because he said they wouldn't get it. When they did get it, she complained about no electricity or telephones. She then started whining that she had to get married to take the job and she didn't want to do that before she was 27. Her later descriptions of Skomer Island are wonderful and I would love to visit it at some point but her initial bitching just ruined the book for me. Which sucks because I was really looking forward to reading this book, I love anything written about the non-touristy parts of Europe, the UK, and Ireland.

Rosanne Alexander knew her boyfriend, Mike was passionate about Skomer Island, a wild nature reserve off the coast of Wales. He’s volunteered there as a child and later as a young adult, and his dream has always to become the warden. Neither Rosanne or Mike think he has a chance in getting the position when it opens up, but Mike applies anyway and to his delight (and Rosanne’s shock), he’s hired for the post. Thus begins a ten-year odyssey with the couple, now married (it’s required for Mike to take the job) living on remote Skomer Island, often entirely alone, sometimes with little food when weather makes travel to the mainland impossible. The rough living has its compensations with the abundance of wildlife – seals, puffins and more, and the solitude. At times I envied Alexander and at times I thought she was mad, but I thoroughly enjoyed reading this memoir of bravery, hilarity and downright stubbornness.