ABOUT
THE BOOK

In the early hours of New Year’s morning 1919, in a raging storm, the Iolaire, bringing troops back from WWI, sank on its entry to Stornaway Harbour, Isle of Lewis. Most on board perished. The island community was devastated and, in addition to its high loss of men in WWI, lost a further two hundred in its sinking. The Dark Ship opens as this Hebridean community is again preparing for war. It spans three generations and two world wars. It tells the story of a poet who went to war, his lovers, his friends who stayed behind, and his friends who fought beside him and celebrates love, music and poetry in a finely woven tale that reflects the complex story of a people bound together by common experience, grief and history.