"Three men alone on a lighthouse in the middle of the sea. There's nothing special about it, nothing at all, just three men and a lot of water. It takes a certain sort to withstand being locked up. Loneliness. Isolation. Monotony. Nothing for miles except sea and sea and sea. No friends. No women. Just the other two, day in, day out, unable to get away from them, it could drive you stark mad".
A ghost story set in Cornwall? Who can resist?!
When I saw a tweet, inviting book bloggers to review The Lamplighters by Emma Stonex, I just knew I had to read it.
The story is inspired by the real events which happened in 1900, when three lighthouse keepers disappeared from a remote rock light on the island of Eilean Mòr in the Outer Hebrides. The mystery has provided material for many conspiracy theories, films and ghost stories. While Stonex used the mystery of the vanished lightekeepers as her inspiration, she moved the setting to Cornwall in 1972.
On the new year's eve in 1972, a relief boat arrives to the remote Maiden Rock lighthouse, off Land's End, miles from the shore. They plan to collect assistant keeper Bill Walker from two-moths' duty, leaving a new man to continue the job. When they arrive, nobody greets them. The entrance door is locked from the inside. Two clocks in the lighthouse are stopped at precisely 8.45. The Principal Keeper's weather log entry refers to the mighty storm, but the skies have been clear that night. Where and how did three men vanish without a trace?
We follow the story as narrated by three men - Arthur Black, Bill Walker and Vince Bourne, as it was unfolding in the days before the mysterious event.
Twenty years later, an adventure novelist Dan Sharp is out to discover the truth behind one of the greatest maritime mysteries of our age. He's been captivated by the story of the Maiden Rock since his childhood, and wants "to shed new light on the matter by speaking to the people at the heart of it".
He says, "This riddle has everything a fiction writer looks for - drama, mystery, peril on the seas. Only it's real. I believe every puzzle can be solved: it's a question of looking in the right places... someone out there knows more than we realise".
Thus Sharp approaches three women left behind, Arthur and Bill’s wives Helen and Jenny and Vince’s girlfriend Michelle. The women are very different in personality, age and background. Helen is pragmatic and dignified. Jenny is the type of woman for whom their whole existence depends on their man. Michelle is trying hard to forget her past by marrying a controlling bully. For years, they have kept themselves apart. Each woman tries to defend the reputation of their husband/boyfriend. Each of them has their own reasons to keep silent.
Their stories interweave like a tapestry, and the whole picture emerges from all the narratives, gaining colour and shape.
The genre of The Lampfighters could be defined as a mix of a ghost story, psychological thriller and horror novel. The horror might not be at the blood-curdling level of the supernatural evil of Shirley Jackson's The haunting of Hill House, but the eeriness and claustrophobia reminded me of Michelle Paver's Thin Air. The intolerable solitude in the secluded confined location with no way to escape sharpens the mental anguish and tortures relentlessly.
The Lamplighters is an accomplished debut novel. It is a wonderfully atmospheric and complelling ghost story. The eerie undercurrent gets under your skin.
Potential triggers: a death of a child, murder, savage killing of an animal.
Disclosure: Many thanks to Emma Stonex, Picador and Amber from MidasPR for my copy of the book!
I love that it was inspired by real events. I think it would have been interesting in Scotland too.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Anca, Scotland would be a great setting too. I've been trying to remember where I read the story of these lightlighters before, must be in one of the collections of stories, but by whom? If you don't mind the supernatural/ghost element, it's a great book. I've seen some reviewers not happy about it though.
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