My ladyfriend found this title in a used bookstore, and gave it to me. Hopefully, it will be in print again soon. I have never read a stranger or more compelling work.

It is written as a personal memoir of an Englishman who, while patrolling the coast of Ireland during the war, encounters a strange young woman, who seems to be drifting farther and farther from human society, and becoming part of a colony of seals. The theme seems to be the conflict/attraction between our civilized nature and our older animal selves. Lockley is a renowned nature lover, and you can guess where his sympathy lies, but though his view of nature is romantic and beautiful, it is not sentimental in the least. He seems to be saying that we all yearn to return to nature, but most of us lack the strength to withstand the hardships and pain that a truly natural life entails. Civilization has made us too aware of pain and death; we cannot simply trust to the elements, even though that life! may be more deeply satisfying than anything our creature comforts can give to us.

The writing is simple and elegant, and deeply convincing, to the point where Lockley had me believing for long periods of time that the events in the book actually happened. I don't think they really could. I don't think so.....