The Lamplighters: Emma Stonex

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Eventually, I get Sid down to the generator. His hair is the strangest color, almost white but not quite, and not the white that comes with age. There’s a tremor of recognition in a dark part of my brain, but it breaks apart when I reach for it.

The Lamplighters by Emma Stonex review – haunting folk tale

In 1992 a writer, Dan Sharp, approaches the wives of Arthur and Bill, and Vince’s girlfriend at the time. He writes adventure stories based on the sea but now he wants to write about the disappearances from the Maiden. Part of the problem in my humble opinion is that it tries to be a bit of everything. A lot of the writing is truly beautiful the descriptions of the sea, are incredibly emotive. I also found the insights into the lives of the men, captivating and interesting. Unfortunately, part of what made this so wonderfully descriptive is also its downfall. I personally found there was just too many words, far more than were necessary. I’m sure others will love this book but for me it was a little disappointing. Note: Be advised that there are spoilers ahead, so be entirely sure you want to continue reading. The Lamplighters Ending Explained I’ve added this one to my tbr after reading your fantastic review! I love the quotes and this sounds like exactly my kind of book. I’m really excited to get it although I don’t know when that will be! I was completely engaged with this which is a deep character driven drama of many layers. A bit Russian doll like, unraveling a layer at a time, slowly you come to an understanding of sorts, it leaves you melancholy and thoughtful.

🍪 Privacy & Transparency

This was much more engaging, and this must be down to the narrator. She did the accents superbly and the personalities shone through. 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. I greatly enjoyed the juxtaposition between the keepers, just before their disappearance, and their wives, still struggling to move on from this tragedy years later. The storylines blended together seamlessly and the ending caught me off guard and provided a satisfying conclusion that not a lot of mysteries tend to give. Sharks are] cool torpedoes of blubber, sliced at the gills, equipped with teeth. Fat and teeth, that’s the thing. Needles in a bowl of curd.’ An atmospheric, slow-moving, well-rounded mystery centered around a real-life disappearance of lighthouse keepers.

Flannan Isles Vanishing: the power of an enduring mystery The Flannan Isles Vanishing: the power of an enduring mystery

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 in the second half of the book. It became stale very fast to be told by each of the characters that something happened in the past. Stars. I wish to extend my heartfelt thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins Canada for this atmospheric and haunting book. Its author, Emma Stonex, was inspired by the mysterious, unsolved disappearance of three lighthouse keepers in 1900 from a lighthouse in the Outer Hebrides. Interesting accounts of this true disappearance can be found by googling the Eilean Mor lighthouse. They appear as she remembers them, and Helen realizes that time has not aged them in her heart. Helen and Jenny exchange a wave, and she feels a sense of connection and understanding with them. Yet rather than the mystery, it is the complicated relationship between the three women left behind that is most vivid. Graceful, middle-class Helen faithfully tending her dead husband’s flame, mousy Jenny who wants to put it all behind her and Michelle who was very young when she met Vince and has built a new life. I also find it unrealistic in a story that everyone is unhappy, unfaithful, loves another, doesn’t love the one they’re with, loves the one they’re with but they love another, grieving for a loved one… literally everyone was unhappy. Also the culmination saw three people considering murder at the same time, is that likely? I also felt the end, not only with its supernatural element seemed unlikely, surely they would have hit the base of the lighthouse rather than the sea? It was also unrealistic that blood and a struggle could have been totally cleaned up, forensics would have found evidence. How sad the only planted evidence they found pointed to the innocent person.

Bill was struggling with his marriage and felt that he needed to get away from his wife. Vince had been struggling with his identity and felt that he needed to start a new life as a woman. Throughout the book, the reader is taken on a journey of discovery, as we learn about the lives of the three men, their struggles, and their secrets. We discover that Arthur had been dealing with guilt over an incident in his past, and felt that he needed a fresh start.

The Lamplighters by Emma Stonex | Waterstones

The personification of the sea and the lighthouse is sensationally authoritative and compelling, with the corporeal imagery, mesmerising in its detail, transposing the written word into a movie. The ocean’s changing temperament, reflective of the human mind and soul, depicts the all-powerful injurious Poseidon; it's paradoxical, melancholic, dramatic beauty at variance with its malevolence. Correspondingly, the ‘Maiden’ with its alluring magnetism is transformed into a 20th century ‘Siren’ of the sea. Do its circular walls represent a cocoon or a writhing python intent on devouring its prey? The Lamplighter is a sentimental novel written by Maria Susanna Cummins and published in 1854, and a best-selling novel of its era.

I love unsolved mysteries and true crime so I was eager to read this book knowing it was based on a true story. Helen mentions that they try their best to make a difference, to keep the lights shining in the darkness. This sentiment encompasses both the literal lighthouses and the figurative light that people try to bring into each other’s lives. Each of the characters was broken in some way, which just added to feel of this book following on the same trend of cliched mystery novels of recent years. This was not unlike a Ruth Ware novel.

The Lamplighter - Wikipedia The Lamplighter - Wikipedia

Character oriented, this is an atmospheric undertaking, a slow, quiet mystery. For me it was an immersive read. A real story of missing keepers from the 1900s in Scotland from the Flannan Island lighthouse was the impetus for this story. As they talk, Helen reflects on the mystery of the disappearance and the different perspectives it holds. They both understand that the truth may never be known, and they accept that some mysteries are not meant to be solved. I felt the supernatural elements of the story didn’t fit as well as they could. One main event Sid coming to repair the boiler was left totally unexplained, why the high voice? I thought Sid was going to turn out to be Jenny in disguise, I was left wondering if Sid was meant to be the men’s conscience? When I’m ashore I have to pretend to be a man I’m not, part of something I’m not part of. It’s difficult to explain it to normal people. Lighthouse worlds are small. Slow. That’s what other people can’t do: they can’t do things slowly and with meaning… 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. Now, they have a chance to tell their side of the story. But only in confronting their darkest fears can the truth begin to surface . . .That’s the inspiration but Emma Stonex imagines her own set of events and characters and it is absolutely addictive, often very creepy and with some beautiful writing.