Lucy Irvine

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Lucy Irvine (born 1 February 1956) is a British adventurer and author. Born in Whitton, London, after a tumultuous and free spirited adolescence, in which she replaced formal education with travel and adventure, she joined forces with writer Gerald Kingsland and, as an experiment in isolation, became self imposed castaways for a year on the isolated island of Tuin, in the Torres Strait between New Guinea and Australia. On her return in 1983, she had her experiences published in the book Castaway , which was later used as the basis for the 1986 film of the same name. Prior to writing Castaway, she had been employed as a charlady, monkey keeper, waitress, stone mason's mate, life model, pastry cook, and concierge. She had first run away from school at twelve and had no full-time schooling after her thirteenth birthday. Due to the interest raised by her first book and to coincide with the release of the film, she wrote about her life before Castaway in the book Runaway. In 1999 she was invited to write a biography of Tom and Diana Hepworth, British ex-pats, who in 1947 set sail from England and embarked upon a hazardous journey in search of a faraway paradise where they could raise a family. They settled on Pigeon Island in the Solomons, running a trading business. Irvine accepted the invitation, taking her three sons for a year and immersed herself once again in island life. Faraway was the fruition of that experience. In 2007 Irvine, accompanied by her youngest son, Benji, moved from Tanera Mòr one of the Summer Isles in Scotland to Yambol, Bulgaria, from where she writes a blog that is published on the Saga magazine website. She has three sons.