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Monday 25 January 2021

Book Review: THE LAMPLIGHTERS by Emma Stonex


 Title: THE LAMPLIGHTERS

Author:  Emma Stonex

Publisher:  Pan Macmillan

Read: January 2021

Expected publication: 4 March 2021

My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟

 

Book Description:

 

They say we'll never know what happened to those men.

They say the sea keeps its secrets...

Cornwall, 1972. Three keepers vanish from a remote lighthouse, miles from the shore. The entrance door is locked from the inside. The clocks have stopped. The Principal Keeper’s weather log describes a mighty storm, but the skies have been clear all week.

What happened to those three men, out on the tower? The heavy sea whispers their names. The tide shifts beneath the swell, drowning ghosts. Can their secrets ever be recovered from the waves?

Twenty years later, the women they left behind are still struggling to move on. Helen, Jenny and Michelle should have been united by the tragedy, but instead it drove them apart. And then a writer approaches them. He wants to give them a chance to tell their side of the story. But only in confronting their darkest fears can the truth begin to surface . . .

 

My musings:

 


The unsolved mystery of the disappearance of Eilean More’s three lighthouse keepers in 1900 remains one of history’s most intriguing puzzles: what happened to the men, and how do you explain the strange coincidences that defy a logical explanation? Emma Stonex has run with the idea to create her latest novel and is ready to offer a plausible theory. Even though her story is set in Cornwall in the 1970’s and features fictional characters, it bears a lot of resemblance to the Flannan Isles mystery.

 

It isn’t an easy feat to take a true historic event and transform it into a gripping, suspenseful mystery, but the author has done just that. Told with the help of dual timelines and multiple characters, including the three men and their partners, the story gave a fascinating insight into the daily life of one of history’s most romantic professions: that of the lighthouse keeper. Be warned that Stonex will dispel any illusions of an idyllic lifestyle on small islands or in the middle of the sea. Having hosted such romantic notions myself, I was surprised by descriptions of the austere and regimented lifestyle of the lighthouse keepers as they spent many weeks cut off from isolation in their concrete towers, sending out warning signals to passing seafarers. It was a pleasant surprise to also get the perspectives of the wives and partners they left behind on land, tending the homes and children whilst their men were absent for prolonged periods of time, missing many of the special occasions that normally mark our routines: birthdays, Christmases and other family affairs.

 

Whilst the 1970s timeline slowly unravels the events leading up to the men’s fateful disappearance, the present narrative shows us the incident from the perspective of the widows who never got any satisfactory answers for their husband’s fates. In fact, the lighthouse company has done its utmost to keep them quiet, paying out bereavement pay in exchange for their silences. But when a famous mystery author shows an interest in telling the three men’s story, some secrets are shaken loose ...

 

I admit that I struggled initially with the wives’ narratives told in “interview style”, as they are narrating their experiences and theories to an unknown person. However, as the story drew me in, it got easier to overlook the unusual style and just go along with the flow – I was so intent on getting answers! And whilst the author’s interpretations of the events may or may not be closely related to the truth, her theory was certainly plausible and went a long way towards explaining away some of the mysterious happenings in the lighthouse. I loved how the men’s backstories bled into their current situation in the lighthouse, and the dynamics between the three very different personalities trapped in close confines in the middle of the ocean.

 

The author’s observations about the sea and life near a treacherous coast added a unique backdrop to this fascinating story, and readers who love an atmospheric setting will appreciate her vivid descriptions of life inside “The Maiden”.

 

All in all, THE LAMPLIGHTERS was a fascinating mystery weaving true historic facts into a skilfully constructed tale that captivated as well as intrigued me from start to finish. I loved the true historic facts that play a big part in the novel, and the author’s final tying together of all the threads, which was very satisfying and made this a joy to read.

 

Thank you to Netgalley and Pan Macmillan for the free electronic copy of this novel and for giving me the opportunity to provide an honest review.



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