SOLVED. Historical Fiction. Castaways on a cold island, one builds a raft, another hunts a sea bird. [s]

[AnaMaria]

Published probably on the sixties, read as a child on the late seventies in a volume that looked like a Reader's Digest Selection. A group of men (fishermen/sailors?) stranded on an island but on sight/short distance away of the mainland, someplace very cold, rain, no food, confrontations. At some point one of them dared to start readying some kind of raft? to attempt the crossing. Another of them hunted a seagull, and was asked to give at least the head of the seagull to the one building so he could have the strength to attempt the crossing. No other details, as I was a very young reader, been wondering since if the men were rescued or what. Lifelong castaway mystery.

[Ri]

This sounds familiar. Takes place in Ireland I think? The men go bird hunting once a year and one year the boat never comes to pick them up and they are stranded. There's a lot of detail about the kinds of birds they hunt.

[AnaMaria]

SOLVED: Found the book via a very long route. It was Boon Island, by Kenneth Roberts (1956), published in Spain as «Naufragio en Maine». Posting in the group gave me new ideas to find it via investigating every Reader's Digest ever published in Spain featuring an island.

[Kris]

Glad you found your book, AnaMaria. Here's the link - Boon Island by Kenneth Roberts.