The Isles Behind the Story

An Improbability of Puffins is fictional, but its weather belongs to Scilly: granite, gorse, ferry crossings, gig crews, island gossip, flower fields, old records and birds that know before people do.

The Isles of Scilly are not a backdrop in Blair Penhaligon's fiction. They are pressure, witness, sanctuary, rumour and return.

The Tower

The fictional lighthouse is imagined, but its visual language echoes Scilly's red-and-white daymark tradition. The real St Martin's Day Mark stands on Chapel Down, the island's highest point holds a striking red-and-white tower built in 1683.

A tower on the headland. A light that should be dead. A room that remembers.

Puffins

Puffins are the main recurring visual motif. In the novel they are not cute decoration, they are evidence. Their disappearance marks the island's broken pattern; their return shows that the light, the routes, and the community have begun to remember correctly.

Puffins in Scilly are associated with Annet and other uninhabited islands; they live in burrows between rocks and are often seen at sea rather than as close-up cliff mascots. Baby puffins are called pufflings.

Pilot gigs

Pilot gigs open island life through boats, quay, race time and gig culture. Ellie sees a gig cutting the mist, six rowers moving as one body, with Cal at the tiller.

• Long, narrow wooden rowing boat

• Six rowers, one coxswain

• Low and racing through sea chop

• Oars visible and rhythmic

There really is a World Pilot Gig Championship; it takes place every year on the Isles of Scilly. For more information:

World Pilot Gig Championships

Five Islands Radio

Five Islands Radio is fictional.

However, there is a community radio station on the Isles of Scilly. Originally called Radio Scilly, it served as a dedicated independent community broadcaster for the Isles of Scilly. It was frequently dubbed the "world's smallest professional radio station". Radio Scilly quickly won local and industry awards for its essential daily news, weather, and unique community programming, including volunteer presenters and producers.

After a decade of operation, the station officially rebranded from Radio Scilly to Islands FM on January 31, 2020. The rebrand was spearheaded by new directors, bringing a refreshed on-air identity, including a new website, new music playlists, an updated logo, and jingles.

Today, the community station continues to operate on 107.9 FM, providing the Isles of Scilly with essential public service, travel updates, and local features.

You can visit the Islands FM website or listen live to what is happening on the Isles of Scilly right now ...

Islands FM

Listen Live ...

The Scillonian Cross

The Isles of Scilly has it's own flag; The Scillonian Cross. An orange upper field, a blue lower field, a white cross, and five white stars.

The orange represents Scilly's sunsets, the blue is the sea, and the five white stars represent the main islands.

The Isles of Scilly

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