I think it was because I've always found the mystery of the Eilean Mor lighthouse fascinating that this book really appealed to me.
The author has transported the story both in place (from Scotland to Cornwall) and in time (1900's to 1970's). It then jumps between the men in the lighthouse and their wives 20 years later as a writer comes to interview them.
It's an interesting story but I felt like it lost something in this modern version. I didn't find the wives perticually compelling.
Not bad, it was an enjoyable read.

Ok I was looking forward to this but oh I struggled. It seemed slow then suddenly it was over. I was expecting more of a ghost story but was a little bit disappointed. #TheLamplighters #NetGalley

Eh. Unfocused for me, and it certainly doesn't help that I was never that compelled with the disappearance of the Flannan Isles lighthouse keepers. Just not for me.

This is a fantastic book about a mystery which becomes part of the public consciousness in the same way that the Lord Lucan disappearance did. In the 1970s, a relief boat goes out to a lighthouse and finds the door locked and all three keepers missing. The action then shifts between the 1970s and what is happening on the lighthouse and the 1990s where an author contacts the surviving spouses to provide information for the book he is writing on the disappearance. Slowly, slowly Stonex unpicks the mystery from both ends and it's really cleverly done. A page-turner.

This was way out of my comfort zone. It was a good storyline which was loosely based on a true story. I took a while to get into the way it was written and I did find the characters were a struggle to connect with.
However, I enjoyed the story, loved the descriptions used and I’m glad I took the time to read something totally different for a change.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I know this book has been raved about by a lot of people and I'm sure for some, it is a great read. However, it wasn't for me. There were lots of great descriptions of the bleakness of the lighthouse and the story itself was a really good one to tell, For me though there was too much description to wade through before you found the story and it took too long to get to the end, which was really interesting once it came.

There is a mystery element throughout, a bit like a ghost story, but it didn't grab me. I'm sure though for some it will be a great read as it is well written.

When three lighthouse keepers disappear from their lighthouse without any explanation, those left behind are forced to spend the rest of their days wondering what happened.

Based on a true story, The Lamplighters is set in on an offshore lighthouse in Cornwall. The clever narrative moves back and forth between the men on the tower in 1972 when the disappearance occurred, and 1990 when a writer is interviewing their partners who were left behind in an attempt to uncover the truth.

It’s a very original premise for a story, and lighthouse keeping isn’t something I knew very much about so I particularly enjoyed learning more about the isolated lives the keepers lead. It felt appropriate given how we’ve all been living lives of isolation and loneliness for the past year.
All of the characters are well written, and the mystery slowly unravels to keep you interested to the very end. The emotions and motivations of each of the characters are sensitively explored, and the relationships between the different groups is touching at times.

With evocative descriptions of the wild and churning sea, and an exploration of grief and lust, this is a great read.
Thank you to Pan Macmillan and NetGalley for my gifted copy, in exchange for an honest review.

I had heard so many great things about this book so when I was accepted to read this book by Netgalley I was thrilled to bits!
This story is inspired by the real-life disappearance of three lighthouse keepers in 1900 and also the first-hand accounts compiled by Tony Parker in his book, Lighthouse, which adds a certain gravitas to Emma Stonex's work and makes the drama that much more compelling.
The story is set in dual timelines, the first in 1972, when 3 lighthouse keepers mysteriously disappear from their tower lighthouse off the coast of Cornwall. The second is set 20 years later when a writer starts asking questions about what really happened on that tower.
Emma Stonex captures the lives of the lighthouse keepers, the confines of living in the tower and the troubles of the men dealing with each other’s anxieties fantastically. She adds extra depth by allowing us to see what life was like for those left behind, waiting for their partners to return for their ‘relief’, never sure if they would return. Then visiting them 20 years later, that this grief, longing and expectation was still very raw.
The writer then sets out to unravel this 20-year mystery but finds himself drawn into a wider, more personal battle for each of these women who have never found closure.
This is a very absorbing novel that is beautifully and respectfully written whilst also being a page gripping mystery that will keep you saying ‘just one more chapter’.
I highly recommend this book.
I would like to thank Netgalley and Pan Macmillan for an e ARC of The Lamplighters in return for an honest review.

This book is packed full of atmosphere. I could feel the cold of the sea and the descriptions of life in the lighthouse was superbly done. Claustrophobic but fascinating in its detail. The structure worked beautifully peeling back the layers of each character until the truth was revealed. Brilliantly satisfying read.

Sophie’s next book was The Lamplighters by Emma Stonex. Based incredibly loosely on a true story, this locked-room mystery begins in Cornwall, England in the 1970s.

Lighthouse keepers Arthur, Bill, and Vince have been working out on The Maiden – a completely isolated sea tower 15 miles from the Cornish coast – over Christmas. Now the weather has improved, boatman Jory is tasked with ferrying Bill’s relief. However, upon their arrival, none of the keepers appear to greet them. Instead, after breaking the door down, the men find the tower locked from the inside, the table set for just two, and the clocks all stopped at the same time. All three men have seemingly vanished into thin air.

Twenty years later, a bestselling author plans to uncover the truth about the mystery and sets out to interview the women who were left behind. Over the years, rumors have circulated, and every explanation from alien abduction to accidental drowning has been postulated. However, as the author digs deeper, the wives reveal more and more secrets that begin to shed light on those final days.

With its dual timeline that switches POV between the keepers in 1972 and the women left behind twenty years later, plus the subtle hints of the paranormal, Sophie was reminded at times of Home Before Dark by Riley Sager. The author does a fantastic job of building up the suspense and keeping you guessing about the men’s fates right until the very end and even beyond because while the book does have a satisfying (if not mind-blowing) conclusion, there are certainly many questions left unanswered.

It’s that fact that prevented Sophie from rating this a five-star read despite its brilliant beginning; there are simply so many threads left dangling and trails that lead nowhere. A huge fuss is made about a certain character’s true identity and when it was revealed, Sophie’s response was, “is that it?” She came away from this one still feeling slightly confused with a lot of “but what about…” questions racing around her head so while she thoroughly enjoyed the read, she couldn’t help but feel ambiguous about it all after the fact.

This is a masterful exploration of human emotions and relationships. It is skilfully plotted and executed. The atmosphere created is a perfect backdrop to the plot.

Based on the true story of the unsolved disappearance of three lighthouse keepers in 1900, this is a fictional re imagining of the same event set in 1972 and then twenty years later in 1992 when we hear the voices of the wives who were left behind. The mystery at the heart of the book is how the keepers could have completely disappeared and various theories are explored. There is a gradual revealing of the nature of the characters, their interrelations, their loves and jealousies.

Through the narrative you gain a real insight into the kind of person an individual has to be to cope with life on a remote lighthouse in the claustrophobic company of two other men. The wives’ stories show what a challenge it can be to re-establish relationships with their husbands after an extended separation.

The characters are really well developed and I particularly enjoyed the thorny relationships between the three women. The dialogue between the keepers creates a real picture of the tensions playing out in the lighthouse.

The setting is pitch perfect, the stormy weather, violent seas and grey skies enhance the emotions being felt by the men. The calmer atmosphere surrounding the women creates the opposite, the feeling of the calm before the storm.

The writing style is elegant and engaging with a pace which is just right for the slow revealing of the possible reasons for the men’s disappearance. The end of the novel suggests a possible solution to the disappearances but that is based on the fictional interpretation of events which made it highly probable.

In summary this was a great read, a really good mystery with well-drawn characters, richly imagined with excellent writing and a tremendous atmosphere.

Thank you to NetGalley and Pan MacMillan for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

"If you don't like being on a tower, it's not cos it's the tower that's wrong."

Three keepers vanish from a remote lighthouse in 1972. Miles away from shore, the doors are locked from the inside and all the clocks have stopped at precisely the same time. Will the secret of what happened to these men ever be discovered? The families they left behind need to know.

The author, Emma Stonex,was inspired to write this fictional book by true events that happened back in 1900.
The rich and vivid writing made the freezing power of the sea leap from the page. I could almost taste the salt and hear the wave crash against the tower.
The despair was tangible with the remoteness of the lighthouse and the loneliness the keepers felt with missing their families and having nothing but time to dwell on the past and focus on mistakes made and their regrets.

The Lamplighters by Emma Stonex is an atmospheric.mystery that I thoroughly recommend.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and publisher for the opportunity to read this book

It’s 1972 and three keepers disappear off the iconic Maiden lighthouse off the coast of Cornwall. The doors are locked from the inside, the clocks both stopped at 8:45, the table is set for dinner. Where can they possibly have gone?

Twenty years later a writer approaches the three women who were left behind, giving them an opportunity to share their stories. It becomes clear that they haven’t had a great deal of contact over the two decades and that, perhaps, there are secrets that have remained unsaid… until now…

This book is incredible. I almost want to go back and reread it to really try and absorb all the tiny subtleties that I’ve missed! The mystery element intrigued me from the outset but it was the sense of foreboding and the overall tense atmosphere that kept me turning the pages until late into the night.

The sense of the bleakness of the setting is palpable throughout the novel, and is paralleled by the bleakness of the characters’ circumstances. The enforced isolation, and the effects that such isolation can have on individuals and families gave me much pause for thought, particularly at points in the story where I wasn’t quite sure what was real and what was unexplained or imagined.

The narrative within the dual timeline is divided between all of the different characters, and I was never certain which of them, if any, were reliable narrators. What I thought worked particularly brilliantly was the interspersion of letters and newspaper articles within the main text as well as the conversations with the writer, of which we are party only to one side. I felt that they helped to propel the story forward and provided some small sense of certainty in a book where one feels that nothing is quite as it seems.

A fabulous novel, The Lamplighters comes highly recommended from me!

Midwinter 1972, and the Maiden, a lighthouse off the coast of Cornwall, is standing empty. The three lighthouse keepers, Arthur, Bill and Vince are nowhere to be seen, the clocks are stopped at 8.45, the table is set for dinner and the door is locked from the inside. Thirty years later, Helen, Jenny and Michelle the wives and girlfriend of the men who disappeared are contacted by an author who wants to write about the events on the Maiden and try and discover what really happened. The women, rather than being united in their grief, have drifted apart over the past few decades and the book and it’s author, are re-opening old wounds. But the women left behind know that those wounds have never really healed.

Told via a dual timeline, we learn from this trio of women about their relationships and how they felt about their other halves being lighthouse keepers. We read about their grief and unanswered questions and we are given a glimpse into what it is like to be in a relationship with a man who spends much of his time away in a lighthouse that is visible from your front door, but is inaccessible to you. We’re also privy to the events on the Maiden, watching as the Principle Keeper Arthur, Bill and Vince keep the light burning high above a raging sea. I love a dual timeline, especially when it is as well executed as this. Chapters are written from the perspective of each of the characters, with their voices being clear and distinct creating a tense and suspenseful read.

There is something about a lighthouse off the coast of Cornwall which feels almost romantic. It harks back to the days of smugglers hiding their wares in the caves dotted along the rugged coast, with the swoop of the beam of light from the lighthouse acting as their only guide to the fog obscured landscape. The reality is far more claustrophobic and isolating though. I visited Smeaton’s Tower on Plymouth Hoe a few years ago and was surprised by just how little room there is to move around inside and how disorientating it is. I was taken back to my visit whilst reading The Lamplighters, imagining three burly men moving around a compact lighthouse and sleeping in beds much too small for their frames. I could imagine just how tense it would be to be living in such a place and Stonex takes us right into the action, describing the loneliness and beauty of being alone with the light in the middle of the night, of a meal shared at a small table and small irritations between one another rankling.

The sea is almost a character in itself. It is described as being a myriad of different colours, rarely blue, more often slate grey or if the sun hits it right, pink. These three men are beholden to it, they can tell what the weather will do by the swell of the waves, aware that a storm may mean that their provisions will be delayed, or worse, they won’t be able to go home when their 8 week shift is over. It is both enticing and a threat and it was these descriptions of a life like force which heightened the isolation of the Maiden and the eerie disappearance of the men. It is a constant presence in the novel, lapping against the rock upon which the lighthouse stands, it’s waves spraying the windows and cutting them off from the world.

Although this seems like a mystery novel, and to a great extent it is, to me it was more an examination of grief, loss and the heavy weight of unanswered questions. Helen, Jenny and Michelle have been forever broken by the absence of their men and although each has dealt with it in different ways, they each feel the loss. This book also explores the psychological weight of life on a lighthouse, the responsibility and the half lived lives. It is a melancholy and emotive read with evocative descriptions of marriage and loss and is emotionally complex, keeping me turning the pages and being pulled into its depths.

This is a debut novel, and it is certainly an assured and confident one. It is beautifully written with some gorgeous sentences which made me pause, re-read and highlight on my Kindle for posterity. Wonderfully plotted with excellent pacing I was engrossed, desperate to see if the Maiden would reveal her secrets. Highly recommended.

I adored this book! The writing, the characters, the setting - all deserve 5 stars. The story itself deserves 6 stars for the imagination that has gone into turning an old mystery into a thoroughly enjoyable novel. I can't wait to see what Emma Stonex comes up with next - but I'm sure it will be equally as good (if not better!).

My thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley. This review was written voluntarily and is entirely my own, unbiased, opinion.

An extremely well researched book without a doubt but the storytelling didn’t capture my imagination as I was expecting it too. The style seemed rather over complicated which ended up tedious at times.

In the winter of 1972 three lighthouse keepers mysteriously disappeared from a remote Cornish lighthouse situated in the sea miles from Lands End. Leaving only the slightest traces of their everyday living and with the door locked from the inside the disappearance of Arthur, Bill and Vince opens up more questions than it does answers. Helen, Jenny and Michelle, the three women they leave behind, their lives will never be the same again and even the passage of time doesn't dim the sorrow and confusion over the men's strange disappearance.

Twenty years on and the sea tower, known as The Maiden, still stands like a sentinel, guarding its secrets well, shining its light on everything but the truth. Gradually as the story progresses a sort of truth starts to emerge when the women are approached by a writer who wants to solve the mystery of the lamplighters but with unearthing memories comes bitter reflections and each of the women are troubled in their own enigmatic way. Moving forwards and backwards in time we get the individual stories of all those who are so closely bound together by this tragedy and in cleverly controlled streams of consciousness we start to get a impression of the hurt, resentment, and utter despair of living with too many bottled up secrets.

Inspired by the real events of a similar disappearance in the Outer Hebrides in 1900, this fascinating novel brings to life the sheer hellish loneliness of life in a remote lighthouse. Beautifully descriptive about the unpredictability of the sea, the capriciousness of wind and the daily grind of living and working in close proximity with men who have been brought together by circumstance rather than choice.

Slow to burn, but beautifully controlled, with a poignant originality which makes the story quite special, the mystery of what happened to The Lamplighters in 1972 remains long after the book is finished.

What an interesting little book , thought id give it a try as it’s something different from my usual psychological thrillers . Fascinating insight into the lives of the lighthouse men , learnt a lot of new things reading this . Finding out the mystery of what actually happened to these men drove me on but I’m not quite sure of the ending. I probably was disappointed it wasn’t something more dramatic although it was a bit mysterious. All in all worth reading . Would make a good film too

2.5 stars

The Lamplighters was one of my most anticipated books of this year, due to a real-life mystery that (honestly) spooks me out a little when I think about it too much. However, I think this missed the mark a little.

I found the storytelling confusing and jumpy, especially given that the chapters told from the perspective of the men in the lighthouse often jumped around in time. I also found it hard to follow these chapters based on how many days they'd been in the lighthouse.

I did want to know what happened, and I did think the ending was interesting, and the small twist was unexpected (to me). I also liked the final few chapters with the author and the three women. I thought it was a really lovely way to end the story. However, I didn't think there was a lot of build up to it, and at some points of the story I found myself bored of what was happening.

However, I can tell that Emma Stonex is a fabulous writer. There are passages, and chapters, and even sentences in this book that were amazing, that drew me in as a reader, and that have stuck with me even after finishing the book. I would definitely give her books another try!

In summary, I enjoyed Emma Stonex's writing, but I don't think the story totally worked for me.

I've given this book three stars as I feel some people will love it and it'll be a standout read for the for 2021 however it wasn't for me. I felt this book had so much potential however there were way to many words and long (beautiful) descriptions. I also felt like you waited too long for the ending and it wasn't shocking enough. There is the mystery element throughout but I was expecting more of a twisty thriller which wasn't the case.