In 2021, Ruby Free, 21, got her dream job working on an RSPB reserve. But this position wasn’t for the faint hearted – it meant moving to live on Rathlin Island, off the County Antrim coast. One of the wildest and most biodiverse corners of the UK and Ireland, to Ruby, who had grown up in the south-west of England, it felt both thrilling and very far from home.

Ruby thought she knew what wildness was but arriving on the island alongside a quarter of a million seabirds, her perception of it changed forever. From swimming with seals and late-night trips to hear the call of the corncrake, to spotting dolphins from her front door and getting to know some very special seabirds, this is the story of Ruby’s time on Rathlin. It’s also the story of what happened next – how Ruby took everything she’d learned through living on the island to the following stage of her life.

Heartfelt, impassioned and full of joy, Rathlin, A Wild Life is a love letter to the island and the wildlife Ruby finds there, but it’s also a call to action; a reminder of everything we stand to lose if we don’t change.

Ruby Free - Rathlin, A Wild Life : Island Living, Seabirds and Extraordinary Gifts from Nature (paperback)