Herm, Our Island Home by Jenny Wood (1972, reprinted in 1981 with a new foreword and an additional chapter)

 

In 1949 Peter and Jenny Wood take on the lease of Herm, one of the small Channel Islands.
When they start out they have two children, while four more are born on the island. They are keen to create a community and Peter’s brother and his wife join them.

From the back flap of my paperback: it is the story of a wife and mother trying to bring up six children in a ruined house on a derelict island, without a proper water supply or drainage and no electricity.
So there is a lot of work to do, including arranging for a phone line with Guernsey to be put in. Before that the only way to seek help in an emergency is to signal with an Aldis lamp.
Jenny writes: milk was no problem as we were plentifully supplied from the farm- with eggs also - and we grew our own vegetables. I would have liked to learn more about that, but the subject does not come up again.

As the lease makes them responsible for the complete upkeep of the island, they need to run it it as business, so they expand the hotel, do up cottages and open a restaurant, cafe and shops.. They also try their hand at making and selling products (souvenirs made of shells, pottery, weaving, daffodils, stamps). For all this they need to employ lots of people, some of whom come to live on the island with their families. They start a small school and employ a teacher.

I must say I found it hard to understand the economics of the whole operation. On the one hand the cost of running the island must have been enormous. On the other they seem to employ people (and their families) on a whim, send their children to boarding schools and spend two months in a hotel in England while their house is being rebuilt.

Another quote from the back flap: to anyone who has ever dreamed of „ getting away from it all” this book is an absolute must. Well maybe, but only if you have loads of money!

I would not say Jenny tells the story of what happened, but that she entertains us with a series of anecdotes (which is why it is hard to get a complete picture of the operation). Most chapters are only a few pages long. I suppose this could be called a charming book: perfectly entertaining and harmless.
But something bothered me about it: Jenny has a curious way of writing about other people’s misfortunes. The tenants of the neighboring island of Jethou suffer some very serious accidents and someone even drowns. Somehow she gives the impression that it is all their own fault: now, I am happy to say, Jethou is in he hands of people who live there quietly and contentedly, and without recourse to such dramatic events.
And then there is Kay, who they employ to look after the children. She suffers from severe asthma and one day has a fatal attack. She dies in Jenny’s arms. This gets two short paragraphs. Next paragraph: Sapper (their dog) also died that summer … we all felt his loss keenly… Ouch!

Peter and Jenny’s daughter Penny and het husband took over the lease in 1980 and ran the island till 2008, when it was taken over by John and Julia Singer. Jenny Wood died in 1991 and Peter in 1998. They are buried on the island.