Reach exceeding grasp.

There are good and interesting things in this novel, but unfortunately I found myself sounding patronising in everything I could say about it. I liked the imaginative springboard into the novel from a true event, the mysterious, still unsolved vanishing of 3 lighthouse keepers from their lighthouse at the beginning of the twentieth century, which this author transposed to the 1970s. This was an interesting choice, as it occurred at the time when what was on the horizon was automation, rather than live keepers on a round the clock keeping of the ‘flame’. So some of what is explored here is the effect of being solitary, effectively imprisoned away from normal life, and locked into that solitary place with 2 other keepers. I suppose the closest analogy now would be space travel.

The structure of the novel flips between 1972, when the author sets her mysterious disappearance, and the 1990’s, where a writer is researching that disappearance, and interviews the 3 women who were wives or partners of the missing men. Most of the structure is interior monologues (the men, 1970’s) or particularly uninterrupted monologues by the women, presumably what the writer has taped. These tapings unfortunately felt contrived and somewhat cliched. They began the novel, and had this not been an ARC, I would have abandoned my reading at this point, as they felt like something out of a creative writing class homework exercise.

There is quite a lot of literary writing – now, as my preferred genre IS literary fiction, I should not have found this grating. That I did spoke of a certain amount of self-conscious beautiful writing

As the book settled in, and particularly when the focus was on the men’s interior monologues, I became far more absorbed, and found I was moving towards liking, rather than ‘okay’

Unfortunately, as the book neared its end, once again, a lot of contrivance seemed to be happening, in the various reveals, and my irritation levels rose.

Overall, given that in theory this should be something of a page turner, the major stumbling block for me was that though, yes, I wanted to know ‘what happened’ this was more in the nature of just solving a puzzle, rather than that crucial ‘I want to know what happened to THESE PEOPLE’ The writing in the end distanced me, rather than drew me in

It gets 3 stars, because in essence the writing is good and I could see what the author was trying to achieve. The characters, the plot, the ending; I must admit that I just didn't 'get' it. I feel like half of the book could be scrapped and the author would have been much better just focusing on the wives. Personally, this book just didn't need all the ghostly happenings. The fact that what happened is actually true and has never been solved is mystery enough.

I felt that none of the characters had any substance. The only one I could engage with on any level was Helen, and not just because we share the same name :) As for the character of the writer, there is absolutely no need for that character. Even the 'reveal' of who they are at the end didn't explain anything about or add anything to the story.

This book is not about the mystery of the men's disappear, as it's marketed to be. Instead, it's about love, friendship, companionship and what happens when those suddenly get taken away from you.

Compelling, original and beautifully written, The Lamplighters is one of the best books you’ll ever read. Emma Stonex has delivered something very special indeed and it deserves to be huge - and made into a film for its atmospheric slow burn.

Such a haunting and atmospheric story, I loved it. The Lamplighters are three lighthouse keepers who disappear from a locked and isolated lighthouse in 1972, leaving 3 wives and partners behind to pick up the pieces. The story shifts between 1972 and 1992, when a writer begins to investigate what happens, and talks to those left behind, The more you read, the more you uncover hidden secrets and unhappinesses, and there's a real feeling of buried emotions and stiff upper lip. The story is told in turn by each of the lighthouse workers and by their partners, and you find yourself trying to piece together the secret of what happened. Well worth a read - I appreciated the shorter length of it too, compared to some of the other books I have been reading recently.
Thanks to @Netgalley and the publishers for the chance to read in exchange for an honest review.

I don’t read many ebooks as I prefer physical copies, but this I raced through. It has such an amazing premise! Everything I love, a literary mystery set in a lighthouse? Yes please!

Let’s start with what I loved: the premise, the way the story was told in alternating chapters by the women and the men-thus laying a very different puzzle as to what led up to the disappearances than the official version- and the idea around telling the story from the survivors’ POV.

What I liked less: the pacing felt uneven sometimes very slow. Most of the characters were very unlikable, especially the women. Even though the pacing was slow and it should have laid the groundwork for character building, it still felt like most of the characters were cardboard cut-outs, I didn’t feel I was there with them most of the time and especially far away from the women. The way the journalist/author never actually enters the story, making the women’s way of reacting to him seem completely over the top. And perhaps my pet peeve: that the way it’s structured makes it not much of a mystery at all! Why make this elaborate set up if you’re not either going to make it a literary mystery, or a character study/emotional journey m? It sadly falls in between somewhere.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for my e-galley!

I was intrigued by this mystery of three missing lighthouse keepers - Arthur, Bill and Vince. It is beautifully written and atmospheric with a fascinating plot. When I put it down, I couldn’t wait to get back to it. I liked the way the author gave a voice to the men’s partners - Helen, Jenny and Michelle - especially when they talk to the novelist Dan Sharp. The descriptions of storms and being on the boat are so vivid, I almost felt seasick! It was interesting to learn about the way of life on a lighthouse and the loneliness of the women left behind, I turned the pages quickly as the secrets were revealed. Excellent!

You feel compelled to read on to find out what caused the mysterious disappearance of the three lighthouse keepers. The author successfully weaves the stories of all involved into a satisfying resolution.

I can see why this book was fought over by publishers world wide.

This stunning novel is based on a true story that has been the subject of books and documentaries over the last 120 years. Three light house keepers mysteriously vanished from the lighthouse on Flannen Island in Scotland in 1900. The clocks had all stopped at the same time and no explanation could be found for their disappearance. Emma has taken this story and re-imagined it. She has set it in 1972 not long before lighthouses began to be automated without the need for human presence.

The story crosses back and forth between 1972 and 1992 and is told from the perspectives of 6 people; the three men on the lighthouse and their wives and girlfriend. While this book is at heart a mystery where Emma offers up an explanation for the disappearance, for me that was only a side-line to the themes of loneliness, grief and isolation in all its forms. Emma writes so visually and poetically that the reader feels not only the power of the sea and its ageless beauty, violence and fascination but also the toll such isolated work takes on the human psyche. I really loved the unique style use of monologue when the women are being interviewed in 1992 by a writer about their experiences.

Some of the reviewers have mentioned they don’t like the aspects of the supernatural that appear throughout the book, but I think they are an added bonus to the whole experience. How many times have we all seen as children or adults things we can’t explain or don’t make sense? Things we think we see out of the corner of our eye and then dismiss as imagination? Stress, grief and guilt only exaggerate these 'imaginings' till they can become all too real.

Thoroughly enjoyed this beautiful book.

This book took me a while to get into, but I was so glad I did. The story is based on a real life disappearance of 3 keepers. All the characters are realistic and well developed. I loved the book so much I looked into renting keepers cottage for a holiday. I highly recommend this book.

I loved the premise of this book but couldn’t get to grips with it. Three lighthouse keepers disappear without a trace. 20 years later, an author decides to return to the area and dig deeper into the mystery. Told mainly as though the characters were talking to the author, I found this difficult to read. Based on a true story, there was never really going to be a solid conclusion. Not the book for me.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book

This is a chilling yet satisfying read. One thread of it is a crime thriller, another is about a father’s love for his departed son: this is intertwined with a thread about the resentment another man has about his own upbringing by an ailing and abusive father. Still another is about a writer trying to write the books his father would have liked. (Oh, how I know!) The author has been praised for the way that she shows things from the perspective of the women in the story, but she’s actually doing pretty well with the men and must actually have known some, which isn’t always apparent with every much-lauded female author.

About a lighthouse crew, their wives and girlfriends (John le Carre fans will have momentarily thought something different if they saw the title without the cover illustration), this novel has not only been well-researched, but well understood. The author knows what all her facts mean, and this, again, is not accomplished by all authors.

And for all the author’s story-telling skill and her care for emotional narratives, this is a story about a life-saving device and a triumph of engineering, which also quietly destroys the men who make it work.

The Lamplighters is an intriguing book. It's a mystery that's more about the telling of an enigma than the solving of it.

The prose is beautifully atmospheric, deep and dark as the ocean that surrounds The Maiden. Stonex captures the whirling passions and claustrophobia of life at the lighthouse, but there is also a sense that the supernatural might not be such an impossibilty.

But while the prose was haunting, the narration itself felt a little too contrived. The characters felt more like concepts than real people, vessels for their various secrets. I almost wished the ending was left more open-ended, rather than having all the coincidences slot so neatly together.

My 3 stars for this book is actually more like 3 1/2. I did enjoy it, but I wanted it to be creepier than it turned out to be. I liked the characters and the split storylines but it wasn’t perhaps quite what I expected it to be.

Based on a true story from around 1900 when 3 lighthouse keepers disappeared from a manned lighthouse at sea with the access doors locked from the inside and food and drink still on the table as if they had just nipped outside for a few moments . This was discovered when the next supply boat went out to change over the watch and deliver provisions to the men on board . This led to all sorts of speculation at the time about what happened from ghosts to murder . This novel uses the same premise but set over 70 years later and the story being reviewed 20 years later by an author writing a new book about the mystery . He interviews the wives of the 3 victims and many secrets come out that had been withheld by those interviewed and also the Lighthouse Company . It also made a realistic view of the keepers conditions , moods and thoughts as they worked their shifts away from home for months at a time . Vere well written fiction .

Three men disappear fron the Maiden lighthouse. The book looks at the families of the three men, what happens on the lihthouse & in the families of those left behind.
I had no idea about lighthouse workers until I read this book & it was fascinating. The added mystery, the effects of isolation & the story of the families has made this a great read. One of those books that grips you & you just want to keep reading.

I was intrigued by the original mystery so I thought the book may be an interesting read. However, I thought the opening chapters were confusing- which characters was travelling from where to where - and found it heavy going As the real life events weren't solved the conclusion of the fiction version wasn't satisfactory.
Greatly disappointing.

I had high hopes for this story because it was written in memory of the awful event of 1900 where 3 lighthouse keepers disappeared and to this day no-one knows what happened.

The story is based around these events and started off promisingly. It told the story of 3 lighthouse keepers and their wives/partner and their feelings and day-to-day lives on the lighthouse and for their partners being at home without them. I found it very hard reading reading because of the swapping around of time frames.

As we know their disappearance is still a mystery so I was looking forward to how the author was going to tackle this. I was disappointed because I found it to be predictable and fairly weak and also rushed.

It must have been such a lonely, hard life being a lighthouse keeper. Cut of from family and friends for so long. This story really gets that cold and lonely feeling across. The story begins to have a chilled atmosphere.
The sea is such a lonely and intimidating expanse and to be surrounded by it for miles around would be eerie. All of those feelings come across in the story. Even so, it made for compelling reading and I loved the time hops from when the lighthouse was manned to decades after the event of the mysterious disappearance of the three lighthouse keepers.
As the story builds, so too does the tension and the disturbed thinking of the men comes to the fore with a cataclysmic outcome. An excellent story, very well told.

A lighthouse keeper sounds a great job if you like space, sea your own company but can also cope with spending weeks locked up with 2 others. Hmm not sure about the last bit.
These 3 keepers just vanished without trace the door was locked from the inside the clock read 8:45. Two of them leave behind wives the other a girlfriend one has children none have a clue as to what happen but the partners all carry secrets well who doesn't.
The storey switches between 1972 the year they vanished and 20 years later 92 (I'm good at maths) when a mysterious writer decides to write a book about it all so Helen, Jenny & Michelle (the partners) are interviewed or asked to by our mystery man. The switching of years is clear changing as often as the tide, but no confusion that some authors give its clear to see when it does, and the characters are realistic with flaws that run with how things could well of gone if it was true. The keepers Arthur (the boss) Bill and new boy Vince. The suspense is gripping Emma never gives away too much to soon so you will be caught up in anticipation with new lines of thoughts springng up like items left behind when the tide goes out.
I have given this a well deserved 5 stars because I didn't want to put it down i was caught up in the story liike a fish on the end of a line but without the pain in my lips which was good news, i just had the quest to know what's going on where am I being taken. Let's sea if you can escape without..... no think the puns need to stop put you out of your misery just get the book I think you may well be glad did so.

Three lighthouse keepers go missing without a trace off the south coast. But do the reasons for their disappearance lie at sea or on land, where the three women they left behind struggle with the secrets they’ve held onto for twenty years.
Stonex beautifully evokes the atmosphere and lure of the lighthouse. Though a locked door mystery ,this is the least intriguing part of the book, the characters, their lives and the consequences of their silence, both before and after the incident are placed centre stage.
A wonderful novel that stays in the mind long after you’ve read the last page.