The Lamplighters

This book is a must read!! Part history and truth, part mystery. I loved this and this book will remain with me for a long time. This book was absolutely beautifully written.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced reading copy. This book has such a good concept. Told from the point of view of everyone involved, this book explores just what it means to be on a lighthouse for weeks at a time, and also what it means to be married to the men that worked there. Fascinating from beginning to end, i would definitely pick this book up again for another read.

An interesting story that keeps you involved as you want to know what happened. Tells the tale showing the impact of what happens on each person in their tight community. Recommended to those who enjoy reading this type of book.

This one was... a weird one to explain. A non-mystery mystery in a way. Two timelines, 3 men, 3 wives, one lighthouse.

I think what gripped me the most behind this book is the history and the almost unbelievable life of the keepers, the book is so well researched that it feels so real and I really feel like I've come away having learnt new things.. not quite what I expected from a murder mystery but I'll take it!

Its also weird in that there are no formal conclusions, usually that winds me up so much but it worked so well in this. The drama builds quite slowly but it still managed to be a page turner. Id give it 5 stars for chapter 47 alone, the most beautifully haunting poem ever.

It is 1972 -there are three lighthouse keepers working and living together in isolation. When their relief arrives to replace them and bring them back to shore -they have vanished . The door to the lighthouse is locked from the inside -and nothing is out of place -no signs of a struggle . Where can they be and what has happened to them ??
This was riveting stuff right from the off !
The story then moves forward to 1992 -twenty years later -and we slowly unravel the mystery behind the missing lighthouse keeprs . Fabulous .

Thankyou NetGalley for an advance copy in return for an honbets review .

I found this book utterly compelling. I needed to know the outcomes. The story is based around the disappearance of the 3 lamplighters on a Cornish lighthouse in 1972 and their families up to 1992. This mystery is told through the eyes of each lamplighter and each of their partners. It jumps between the timelines and uncovers the complexities of each character. I was quickly drawn into the story and needed to know how and why they had disappeared. The story never became to bogged down in unnecessary detail and flowed nicely as it was so well written. I enjoyed the book and would happily recommend it to others.

I very quickly became completely immersed in this book. It is a cracking story with poignancy and mystery and romance all rolled into one. The writing is lyrical with its beautiful descriptions of the ocean. The characters are real and easily have the reader's sympathy. The lighthouse too is a character in its own right. I cannot recommend this book enough and found myself planning it as a film in my mind's eye, even picturing the cast!

Inspired by true events.... three men vanish from a lighthouse. When they are noticed as missing a search party heads out to the lighthouse and finds the door locked from the inside. And no sign of the three men. What could have happened?

I really enjoyed the book, it’s one of those stories that you can’t put down until you just know the full story. This author has a different writing style than most of the books I’ve read recently which is a welcome change.

I’d highly recommend this to anyone looking for a good mystery.

The lighthouse is offshore in Cornwall and manned by three lighthouse keepers. The year is 1972 and they all disappear and no one knows how or why. 20 years later the women they left behind are approached by a writer who wants to try and find out what happened.
Beautifully written novel that follows the lives of the lighthouse keepers and the women left behind. Atmospheric novel that gives an insight into the loneliness of this job and how families are affected. Well worth a read, enjoy.

This is one of the most beautifully written books I’ve read in a long time. A mystery you just HAVE to know the answer to, compelling characters, past and present weaving together to slowly build a picture of what happened on the lighthouse. Some of the writing took my breath away, and the end was so brilliant, understated and clever. An amazing book.

I’ve always been fascinated by the disappearance of the Flannan Isles Lighthouse Keepers and I’ve set it as a creative prompt for several children’s writing groups, so when I heard about this book inspired by those events, I was excited to see what the author made of the disappearances.

The story has been relocated from the Outer Hebrides to Cornwall and the dates have been shifted from 1900 to 1970, but the basic conditions are the same: three vanished lighthouse keepers, a door locked from the inside, stopped clocks and strange entries in the logbook.

The life of a lighthouse keeper is a desolate existence and the book beautifully evokes a sense of alienation and loneliness. Each of the three men; Arthur, William and Vincent; have their own reasons for choosing this life, which are gradually revealed as the events leading up to their disappearance are explored. Each of their stories present a possible solution to the mystery.

In a parallel timeline, twenty years later, a writer approaches the three women left behind in attempt to get them to tell their stories and perhaps shed some light on the disappearances. I loved the fact that this was the women’s story as much as the men’s—as much as they try to break away from the past and each other, a satisfyingly convoluted web of tension, deception and secrets ties them together.

The experience of reading ‘The Lamplighters’ reminded me of reading Joan Lindsay’s ‘Picnic at Hanging Rock’—a bewildering attempt to find a logical solution in a haunting, slightly mystical environment and an atmosphere of fear and suspicion. In the end (unlike in Picnic at Hanging Rock) a suitably satisfying solution does present itself, though a window of possibility is left open for the reader to make up their own mind about what happened to the lighthouse keepers.

I thoroughly enjoyed this atmospheric and richly imagined story.

An absolutely fascinating book on two levels. Primarily a great story, well told and with really clever drip feeding of information to make you think you know what is happening only for it to flip pages later. Secondarily and perhaps not purposefully the author sparked an interest for me in the lighthouses themselves, the differences between the types and the sort of life the keepers led. Those insights into the routines, the living spaces and the emptional upheaval for both the men and their families was for me almost as important as the plot itself and definitely has me interested in reading more about the history of the lighthouses.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.