A Passage to Inis Mor is the story of a 38 year old man, John Carlyle, (nee Sean O'Rourke.) Born in Ireland but taken by his mother to Australia at the age of eight after the accidental death of his father..
As the story opens Sean is experiencing a crisis in his personal life. His wife has left him, taking their seven year old son with her. The advertising agency he owns is in severe financial difficulties, his creditors are threatening to bankrupt him and he's hearing poetic voices in his mind urging him to return to Inis Mor. At first he resists these mysterious promptings but when he receives a letter from his grandmother saying that she's dying and wishes to speak with him, he books a ticket to Ireland. On his return he learns that his grandmother has already died, leaving him a cottage and a dilapidated old sailing boat built by his grandfather.
On his first day back on the island he meets a strange old seafaring man who offers to help him rebuild the boat. As the old man teaches Sean the art of boatbuilding he recounts stories of the seafaring men of Inis Mor, of the Selchies that the island is famous for, and of Sean's own father, Con Rua O'Rourke, whom Sean had thought to be a fisherman but who was, it turns out, a well known Seanachie (Irish storyteller)
The old man teaches in the traditional way, through storytelling, song, and poetry, and it is in working with this mysterious old man that Sean is led to a realisation of his own gifts and his talents and ultimately, back to his heart, his soul and the possible meaning and purpose of his life. (Available now as download or hard copy from www.lulu.com )
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