At a crossroads in her life, Gráinne Lyons set out to travel Ireland’s west coast on foot. She set a simple intention: to walk in the footsteps of eleven pioneering Irish women deeply rooted in this coastal landscape and explore their lives and work along the way. As a Londoner born to Irish parents, she also sought answers in her own identity.
As Gráinne heads north from Cape Clear Island where her great-grandmother was a lacemaker, she considers Ellen Hutchins, Maude Delap, Edna O’Brien, Granuaile and Queen Maeve among others from her unique perspective. Their homes – in places that are famously wild and remote – are transformed into sites of hope, purpose, opportunity and inspiration. Walking through this history, her journey reveals unexpected insight into emigrant identity, travelling alone, femininity and the trappings of an ‘ideal’ life.
Against the backdrop and power of this great ocean, Wild Atlantic Women will inspire the twenty-first-century reader and walker to keep going, regardless of the path.
Table of Contents
Prologue: Banba’s Crown
Malin Head, County Donegal
1. South Harbour
Ellen Cotter: Cape Clear Island, County Cork
2. A Remote Country
Ellen Hutchins: Bantry Bay, County Cork
3. Miss Delap
Maude Delap: Valentia Island, County Kerry
4. Big Peig
Peig Sayers: The Great Blasket Island, County Kerry
5. The Ships
Charlotte Grace O’Brien: Foynes, County Limerick
6. The Cliff Edge
Edna O’Brien: The Cliffs of Moher, County Clare
7. On Aran
Úna McDonagh: Inisheer, County Galway
8. Glassala
Kate O’Brien: Roundstone, Connemara, County Galway
9. Queen of Clew Bay
Granuaile: Clare Island, County Mayo
10. Maeve’s Cairn
Queen Maeve of Connacht: Knocknarea, County Sligo
11. Cold Water Mountains
Easkey Britton: Rossnowlagh, County Donegal
Epilogue: Due North
Malin Head, County Donegal
Acknowledgements
Bibliography
About the author