Emma Stonex

"We're not sure of the truth, are we," she said. "Isn't that the point? Some mysteries just aren't meant to be known."

This story has always intrigued me. Three men in a lighthouse, there for weeks on end, suddnely go missing one day. Somethings are moved but noted, the logs are a little off but not much, no other signs of anything being amiss. What happened? I've seen a few different accounts of the details of these real life missing men. So this story appealed to me since it was loosely show more based on the real stories.

I loved the interesting details. I had no read idea of lighthouse living and how it was they must have done it. I didn't even think of the provisions and the weeks without fresh food because deliveries were far and few and weeks between. I didn't know anything about the small, cramped living conditions or the banana-type bed situation. I loved all the little things that really brought this world alive.

And this ending, this answer. I don't know what I was hoping, I don't know what I thought really happened. But this one was sad but completely plausible. We just have no idea what did happen. It's a msytery that we can keep trying at but will probably never solve. I was so wrapped up in this story. The tension, the secrets - were all so well crafted. I never guessed the twists or the end. I will definitely look for more from this author. show less

A locked room mystery on a lighthouse? Can it get any better? Well, no, it seems not. The Lamplighters is a wonderful read, one that in turns gripped and saddened me.

This is the story of three lighthouse keepers of different ranks. Collectively they look after the Maiden Rock lighthouse off the coast of Cornwall. This is no pretty mainland building though. This is a tower in the middle of the sea, surrounded by roiling water and with only a distant sight of land. Once in the lighthouse they show more can go nowhere for two months at a time. The set up and dynamics between the three men was something I found absolutely fascinating. For these men it was simply a way of life.

Until they went missing all of a sudden in 1972. No explanations, no obvious clues, nothing to put the minds of the women they left behind at rest. The author very cleverly weaves their disappearance into another narrative, twenty years later, when a writer gets in touch with the women. He's writing a book and wants their memories and theories as to what happened to their men. Through the 1992 story and through the interviews we get to see what it was like for them before and after the disappearance.

Emma Stonex has based her book around real events but made it her own. She's written something literary yet accessible, and I loved how the story unfolded organically as I was thrust between the weeks leading up to the bizarre events of 1972 and the details that were coming to light in 1992. I was totally caught up in the mystery of it all.

The author portrays so well the differing kinds of grief felt by the women, from acceptance to never waning hopefulness, and once or twice I felt a lump in my throat. It's just so exquisitely written, so involving and so very intriguing.

This is a book that is incredibly atmospheric. There's the obvious sense of foreboding, the tower rising from the sea and the slight menace of the water, but there's also the portrayal of the women on the land, looking out at the tower in the distance, sometimes wishing their husbands were home but taking time to adjust when they were. It's an intensely gripping and brooding read, well-researched and expertly plotted. It's a triumph. show less

The Lamplighters is a story based on real events (up to a point) about three lighthouse keepers who disappear from their lighthouse without a trace and with the lighthouse locked from the inside.

It's a fluffed up locked-room mystery.

The first half of the book dragged quite a bit. We got to know the three lighthouse keepers but we also got to know wives and girlfriends who were left behind after the disappearance.

Each of the characters was broken in some way, which just added to feel of this show more book following on the same trend of cliched mystery novels of recent years. This was not unlike a Ruth Ware novel.
What really got on my nerves in the first half, however, was the constant - or really very frequent - hinting at dark secrets that would only be revealed at the end. It got stale very fast to be told by each of the characters that something happened in the past.
It was the typical "there was something nasty in the woodshed" moment and rather than making the story or characters more intriguing, it just made me guess several of the twists early on.
I have to admit that I even saw most of the ending coming.

So, from a mystery perspective, I don't rate this book very highly. Certainly not as high as all of the 4* and 5* reviews out there.

There was something I really enjoyed in this book, however. For a debut novel, it was oozing with atmosphere and relevant details of life as a lighthouse keeper.

Also, a trigger warning: gratuitous cruelty to animals. show less

‘’Today it’s soundless. Jory knows loud seas and silent seas, heavy seas and mirror seas, seas where your boat feels like the last blink of humankind on a roll so determined and angry that you believe in what you don’t believe in, such as the sea being that halfway thing between heaven and hell or whatever lies up there and whatever lurks down deep. A fisherman told him once about the sea having two faces.’’

Cornwall, 1972. The three keepers of a formidable lighthouse vanish show more without a trace. The doors are locked. The table has been laid for dinner. The clocks have stopped at the same time. But Andrew, Bill and Vince are gone. 1992. A writer decides to write a book about the strange incident and conducts Helen, Jenny and Michelle, the women who were left behind. Their voices merge with the thoughts of the keepers and the truth - if there is an actual truth - is hidden behind the thick mist.

‘’The saying goes she makes a sound when the weather hits hard, like a woman crying, where the wind gets in between the rocks.’’

Inspired by the actual incident that took place in 1900 in the Outer Hebrides, Emma Stonex creates a novel of superb atmosphere and tension. The reader has to discern the validity of multiple accounts, each narrator has a piece of the puzzle and brick upon brick of contradictory opinion. The story is built upon the powerful themes of loneliness, monotony, isolation. Eerie scenes and memories of the past compose a tale where nothing is what it seems. A storm may or may not have happened. A man is in love with someone else’s wife and someone has committed a crime. The women have drifted apart, each one suspecting foul play against a husband. Whispers of hauntings and voices through the mists excite everyone’s imagination. The quiet humming of Scarborough Fair accompanies a mother’s grief…

In terms of atmosphere, this novel is top-notch. Perfect. But apart from Helen, Andrew and Bill, the characters felt problematic and I couldn’t bring myself to ‘’listen’’ to their call. I couldn’t stand Jenny and I wasn’t particularly interested in Pearl, Vince and Michelle’s chapters, hence the 4 stars. In my opinion, the characterization fell flat, as if it was sacrificed on the altar of mystery and eeriness.

This is a heavily-hyped novel and I agree 100%. Had the characters been more appealing (in my opinion), this would have been one of my reading highlights of the year.

‘’The moon pale - eyes through the window. Weird moon. Weird thoughts. Moons out here so bright it hurts. Against everything else they’re brighter than they should be. Imagining the moon is the sun and the whole world turned inside out.’’

Many thanks to Pan MacMillan and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

My reviews can also be found on https://theopinionatedreaderblog.wordpress.com/ show less