I read this book in one sitting and it was a little gem of a book, what a delightful way to spend my day. Having recently visited a restaurant overlooking the lough Michael Faulkner just transported me back there. It is a beautiful part of the country and I envy his Island hideaway.

Michael is a great story teller, the book being full of anecdotes recounting his first few years on the Island with his wife Lynn and their two dogs with glimpses into his early life, accentuated throughout with lovely little drawings and pictures.

It is a wonderful insight into an unusual life choice (albeit initially due to their financial circumstances) and full of interesting people. It almost makes one long for ‘the good life’ regardless of the pitfalls. It was a very enjoyable read, it made me smile, sometimes cry and often laugh out loud.

If you want an uplifting read this one is sure to hit the spot. ( )

The Blue Cabin by Michael Faulkner is a book I found my way to by way of the author's blog (http://thebluecabin.blogspot.com/), and I found my way there because of a comment he left on another blog. It tells the story of how Faulkner, one time solictor turned furniture maker, his artist wife, and their two dogs went to live in his family's holiday cabin on an island in Strangford Lough in Ulster, following the collapse of his business. It charts the ups and downs of living on an otherwise uninhabited island, in the process reminding suburban dwellers like me of all that we tend to take for granted, from a reliable supply of water and energy, to having only to take a five minute walk to buy some milk. Above all it demonstrates that, so long as we are fortunate enough to remain healthy and to find and retain the love and friendship of a few, then not only can we overcome most of what life throws at us but we can actually turn setbacks to our advantage.

For many readers it will be the animals, perhaps above all the dogs Rab and Jock, who end up as stars of the show. To be honest, I've never been keen on dogs since one jumped on my pram when I was a baby, indeed, it is highly unusual for me to want to read a book that has two canine characters on the cover. I was won over more by the author's story telling ability, the sense of optimism that seems to belie his self-professed propensity to gloom, and by a truly remarkable invention found here that, so far as I am aware, has not featured in a book by any other author and does not even get a mention on that compendium of twenty first century knowledge Wikipedia. This is the amazing "double seebackroscope", an instrument which gives its owner an incredible ability to reconcile the otherwise irreconcilable - a useful thing to have, not only in Northern Ireland.

This book is also a fine example of what a high quality paperback can be. I really like the recent trend towards paperbacks with hardback style flaps on the covers (no doubt there is a technical term for this), and in this case the are also attractive endpapers (if the inside of the cover can be so-called) featuring a map of the environs of Strangford Lough.

I think I like my home comforts too much to wish to go an live on a small island myself, but I greatly enjoyed this account of what such an experience might be like. ( )