Lesley Bond: Life on the Great Blasket

Topics covered: island life, living without modern comforts, heritage, community, postnatal depression, writing and healing.

This week, I’m joined by public historian and author Lesley Bond.

In 2019, Lesley and her then-boyfriend, (now husband) Gordon, left their busy lives behind to spend six months as caretakers on the Great Blasket Island, off the coast of Kerry.

With no electricity or hot water, their days were shaped by the rhythms of the island and the unpredictability of the Atlantic. Together, they welcomed visitors from all over the world, ran the island café, looked after the guest cottages and became part of a small but special seasonal community.

The Great Blasket was once home to a thriving Irish-speaking community and became renowned for its extraordinary literary tradition. The final residents left the island in 1953, but its stories, language and heritage live on.

Lesley brings us behind the scenes of life as an island caretaker...from the practical realities of running a café without electricity and carrying out the daily housekeeping, to wild weather and the unexpected joy of sleeping more deeply than she ever had before.

She also reflects on what it felt like to step away from the constant noise and distraction of modern life, how time seemed to move differently on the island and the lessons she carried home with her.

Now living in Kildare with Gordon and their almost two-year-old son, Naoise, Lesley also speaks openly about experiencing postnatal depression and how revisiting her memories of the Great Blasket through writing became a source of comfort and escape during a difficult time.

This is an immersive conversation about slowing down, connecting with nature and the places that stay with us long after we leave them and her beautiful book, 'Blasket Bound: Memoirs of an Island Caretaker', captures the magic, challenges and everyday realities of those extraordinary six months and is well worth a read.

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