In Island Dreams, Gavin Francis journeys into our collective fascination with islands. He blends stories of his own travels with great voyages from literature and philosophical exploration, and he examines the place of islands and isolation in our collective consciousness.

Comparing the life of freedom of thirty years of extraordinary travel - from the Faroe Islands to the Aegean, from the Galapagos to the Andaman Islands - with a life of responsibility as a doctor, community member and parent approaching middle age, Island Dreams riffs on the twinned poles of rest and motion, independence and attachment, never more relevant than in today's perennially connected world.

Beautifully illustrated with maps throughout, this is a celebration of human adventures in the world and within our minds.