The Lamplighters

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I liked that the timeline jumped between when the men went missing and 20 years into the future, with the lasting effect it had left. I also loved the chapters where their wives were speaking to the author, I’ve never read anything quite like that before. My only complaint was that I struggled in general with the writing style. I was unwell when I read this book so it’s possible that this affected my reading. But, I couldn’t get fully immersed in the book because the writing style didn’t suit me personally. That being said, I really enjoyed the ending and felt very moved, this definitely boosted my feelings on the book a little! 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? The resolution of the mystery was a little drawn out but when it arrived it provided a satisfactory explanation, although I felt a sense of injustice for Arthur. Maybe if I was married to Jenny I would have also have been driven to creative options for escape although potentially less drastic! What really got on my nerves in the first half, however, was the constant – or really very frequent – hinting at dark secrets that would only be revealed in the second half of the book. It became stale very fast to be told by each of the characters that something happened in the past. The writing is impeccable; she has a very lyrical style of description that some may find extraneous or detracting. I did not. I loved it. Once again, I love poetry.

You have received some excellent criticism on your writing style, including the description of your work being ‘ pitch-perfect’, as your ‘ descriptions of the damp, briny, windowless interior of the Maiden, the shifting seas, the choking fogs and sudden, unnatural sounds, are simply breathtaking; and, like all the best literary writing, they don’t halt the action, they lift and propel it.’ How have you found the experience of being a debut novelist, and how did you go about refining your writing style? If you've ever lived by the ocean, plied your trade as a Fisher person, or even just taken a cruise and marvelled at the sea, you will appreciate the way this author craftily paints pictures of her, our Ocean Mistress. As I read, I could smell the brininess, hear the cries of the sea gulls, and see the latte-like froth left behind from a receding wave upon the shore line. This was much more engaging, and this must be down to the narrator. She did the accents superbly and the personalities shone through. Inspired by a real-life unsolved mystery where the keepers of a working lighthouse went missing in the early 1900s.

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In 1992 a writer, Dan Sharp, approaches the wives of Arthur and Bill, and Vince’s girlfriend at the time. He writes adventure stories based on the sea but now he wants to write about the disappearances from the Maiden. In this blog post, we will take a closer look at the ending of The Lamplighters and explain what really happened to the three men. We will examine the various clues and hints throughout the book that point to the truth and offer our own interpretation of the ending. the way of life of the lighthouse keepers. These are based on historical accounts, giving the novel a salty tang of

One of the ideas that is explored in The Lamplighters is job automation and the sense of working in a manual job that won’t necessarily exist for much longer. Was this an idea you were keen to explore? as a lover of classical music, I cannot fail to mention the “ghost opera” The Lighthouseby Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, which reinterprets the mystery as aDan shares his manuscript with Helen, revealing that he had written a book about the disappearance and the impact it had on Mortehaven. In December 1900, the three keepers of the lighthouse on Eilean Mòr, one of the Flannan Isles in the Outer Hebrides, disappeared without a trace. The lighthouse itself was found to be clean and in good shape, with no indication of any struggle or unusual occurrence. The only detail suggesting a hurried abandonment of the lighthouse, was the discovery of one set of oilskins, suggesting that one of the men – unlike the others – had left the lighthouse without them. I found clingy home-maker Jenny the least likeable character (with Bill a close second) and I was really routing for jail-bird Vince until I found out he killed a dog, which I suspect says more about my own prejudices and unbalanced thinking than the story itself! I cared about Arthur and Helen and all that they had been through. A beautifully written, utterly compelling tale.” — Jenny Colgan, New York Times bestselling author of The Bookshop on the Corner 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.

As a debut novelist, I wondered if I could ask you to recommend to our readers a few debut novels you have enjoyed recently? Each year, on the anniversary of the disappearance, Helen Walker made a pilgrimage to her old home but the twentieth anniversary is somewhat different. An adventure novelist, Dan Sharp, is planning a non-fiction book about the disappearances and he wants to speak to the people who were left behind. Although it had seemed that the women had told all that they know of late 1972, there were secrets still to be teased out. Sometimes I write a review; sometimes I don't. I am a prolific reader, meaning at least a couple books daily - depending on the breadth and depth of the individual work.The weather is typically English, with a sky the color of Tupperware and rain falling steadily. Helen is accompanied by her dog, and as she climbs the hill towards Mortehaven Cemetery, she contemplates whether this could be her last trip.