The Tide is Coming – a book of Coney Island in Sligo Bay

THE TIDE IS COMING – a book of Coney Island in Sligo Bay    

is a beautiful limited edition hardback, containing interviews, prose, poetry, and artwork.  As the title suggests, the rhythm of the tides has, for centuries, dictated the rhythm of life on Coney Island.  During his lifetime, Island elder and last native resident John McGowan called out the warning “The tide is coming” countless times, ensuring that visitors would cross the strand causeway safely before channels at either side closed the strand passage and made an island of his shores.

Author-transcribed interviews illuminate eight decades of Island life, while insightful poetry and prose reflect the author’s thoughts as she moves across the Island through space and time.  Black and white photography from James Fraher and Catherine Fanning’s paintings, prints and line-drawings come to life on their heavy cream pages.  Folded within the pages is a surprise – an A3 loose-leaf map of Coney Island, created from a very old fragile line-drawn original, which lists locations on and near the Island, many still carrying their original Gaelic names.