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A review by abbie_
The Lamplighters by Emma Stonex
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
If you’re looking for a haunting, atmospheric read set at sea then look no further than The Lamplighters! It’s not haunting in the 👻 sense, but there’s a definite haunted atmosphere, the haunting of a cryptic mystery gone unsolved for too long.
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This book draws inspiration from the disappearance of three lighthouse-keepers in the Hebrides in 1900, but this is set in Cornwall in 1972. Three keepers vanish into thin air, leaving their wives and girlfriends wondering over their fate. Those left behind have been paid well in compensation by Trident House, the lighthouse-keepers’ employers, to make sure they don’t go digging. But when a thriller writer starts writing a new book trying to solve the mystery, old ghosts are resurrected.
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It flits back and forth between the keepers’ POVs in 1972 and the women left behind in 1992, and while I enjoyed both narratives, it was that of the present-day(ish) women that had me truly gripped. How do you move on with your life with the question of your partner’s fate constantly looming over you? How could you go on living a normal life without knowing what happened to your loved one, without any closure? Emma Stonex explores this, and the answer is - not easily!
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I’m not sure how satisfied I was by the ending. It wasn’t bad by any means, I just didn’t have that feeling of a story wrapped up - maybe I’d even have preferred it if it weren’t wrapped up!! I do like an ambiguous ending.
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But the writing, atmosphere and characters - I can’t fault those!
.
This book draws inspiration from the disappearance of three lighthouse-keepers in the Hebrides in 1900, but this is set in Cornwall in 1972. Three keepers vanish into thin air, leaving their wives and girlfriends wondering over their fate. Those left behind have been paid well in compensation by Trident House, the lighthouse-keepers’ employers, to make sure they don’t go digging. But when a thriller writer starts writing a new book trying to solve the mystery, old ghosts are resurrected.
.
It flits back and forth between the keepers’ POVs in 1972 and the women left behind in 1992, and while I enjoyed both narratives, it was that of the present-day(ish) women that had me truly gripped. How do you move on with your life with the question of your partner’s fate constantly looming over you? How could you go on living a normal life without knowing what happened to your loved one, without any closure? Emma Stonex explores this, and the answer is - not easily!
.
I’m not sure how satisfied I was by the ending. It wasn’t bad by any means, I just didn’t have that feeling of a story wrapped up - maybe I’d even have preferred it if it weren’t wrapped up!! I do like an ambiguous ending.
.
But the writing, atmosphere and characters - I can’t fault those!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death
Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, and Murder
Minor: Rape