‘It's extraordinarily pointy and jagged, and it reaches up into the sky like pointed fingers. ‘It doesn't look like any other island I've seen,’ said Emma. ‘One of the first things I did when I started reading the book was go online to see if Skellig Michael existed. Mark was interested to know more about the setting of the novel. ‘It was the perfect lockdown project for me because with all the modern worries about masks and rules, to be able to go somewhere completely different and think about the different problems the monks had like, how do we survive the winter? Where will we find some firewood? Also, the great existential questions like am I here on earth to please myself or am I just a slave to God? It couldn't have been a better transporting experience for me to get me away from the boredom of life under covid.’ ‘Well, I got the idea well before covid, when I was on a boat trip around the Skellig’s off the coast of Kerry in 2016,’ said Emma. Mark began the interview by asking why Emma decided to explore the lives of three monks in 600 A.D. Haunting, moving and vividly told, Haven displays Emma Donoghue's trademark world-building and psychological intensity - but this tale is like nothing she has ever written before. But in such a place, far from all other humanity, what will survival mean? Their extraordinary landing spot is now known as Skellig Michael.

Drifting out into the Atlantic, the three men find an impossibly steep, bare island inhabited by tens of thousands of birds, and claim it for God. Taking two monks - young Trian and old Cormac - he travels down the river Shannon in search of an isolated spot on which to found a monastery.

In seventh-century Ireland, a scholar and priest called Artt has a dream telling him to leave the sinful world behind. Three men vow to leave the world behind them and start anew.

Haven by emma donoghue