The Lamplighters
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3.7 • 39 Ratings
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- £7.99
Publisher Description
Cornwall, 1972. Three lighthouse keepers vanish from a remote rock, 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. Black rocks roll 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 . . .
Inspired by real events, The Lamplighters is an intoxicating and suspenseful mystery, an unforgettable story of love and grief that explores the way our fears blur the line between the real and the imagined.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
This utterly chilling and compelling tale works brilliantly as an audiobook. Drawing on a real-life unsolved mystery from 1900, Emma Stonex’s story follows an investigative journalist in 1992 as he chases a lead that could uncover the truth about the disappearance of three lighthouse keepers two decades earlier. The writer seeks out the men’s widows, who gradually reveal the darkness and complexity that haunted the keepers’ lives—and continues to resonate in the relationship between the three women. The perspectives of each person involved continuously add new twists and suspense to the story—and the narrators, Game of Thrones star Indira Varma and Strike’s Tom Burke, play the roles superbly, enhancing the tension and claustrophobia with every word.
Customer Reviews
A retro locked room mystery
New author to me. A UK author this is a debut writing in her own name. An extreme version of a locked room mystery. It’s based on a lighthouse, a remote tower with no outside space.
Not keen on the book cover, i know in the book it describes the incredible colours found in the water, but it’s not a good choice for me.
🎧audio version with 2 narrators. Indira Varma and Tom Burke who are excellent.
In 1972 three keepers vanish from The Maiden a light house 15 miles off Landsend. The story is told in split time frames between the men at the Maiden and 20 years on with the 3 women left behind still coming to terms with the event. It alternates the story telling between the individual characters.
The surviving women are approached by a writer wanting to tell their story which is the premise for bringing their stories together.
Lamp lighters is a mystery that incorporates the story of life,love, grief and betrayal.
It’s a character driven slow burn.
The inspiration for the story came from an actual event in 1900
The writing style feels like it is based in a time pre 1972, as it has an old fashioned feel to it, even with the 1992 narration. It is quite poetic with its descriptive narrative you really feel the experience of being in a tower in the middle of the sea, the viscous power of nature,the isolation, the relationships and struggles of being in close confinement with 2 other men. Even the practicalities of daily life on the tower is interesting. You can almost feel that the Maiden is a living breathing thing.
I really liked getting to know the 6 characters which all have a great depth to them, and the unusual life style of life on a tower. No outside space so it’s confinement in the extreme. It explores the different beliefs on what could have happened to leave such an mysterious scene at the tower, no bodies, the tower locked from the inside, 2 clocks stopped on the same time,only 2 places set for dinner, the radio not working. The theories vary from the practical to the supernatural to murder.
The in-depth writing style gives the story its strength with the detail, and expression of emotion, but it’s also its slight weakness, with too much detail in areas. The period setting has big appeal for me.
The characters are all engaging.
Helen is married to Arthur the PK ( senior keeper)
Michelle is the girlfriend of ex convict Vince he is her first and most passionate love.
Jenny is married to Bill and they have children.
Sid the boat man is hilarious and annoying in equal measures 😂
I found the end quite slow and drawn out.
To be a victim
A morbid tale told by four self-pitying characters and two determinedly brave ones. It is perhaps not surprising, therefore, that their back stories, revelations and philosophic conclusions on life, love and death are morbidly sentimental and trite.
With such a line up, it is no wonder that one cares less about how the three men in the lighthouse died.
I cannot even recommend this novel to send one to sleep: the self-indulgence is so irritating.
Enjoyable but wouldn’t look for another
Usually when I finish reading a book I start adding other books by the same author to my my ‘want to read’ list. I won’t do this after this book.
I enjoyed the way the story unravelled and at times the eeriness and atmosphere.
But the premise left me feeling a bit sad..
wasn’t for me.
Atmospheric setting, good story, wouldn’t rush to recommend