It’s the descriptions, the language, that I think I will remember most about this novel, that and the eerie evocation of a liminal world where we are poised, characters and readers alike, on the cusp of knowing and of not-knowing, of knowing and of not-wanting-to-know. As a mystery it kept me engaged, though I felt that the ‘aha’ moments didn’t always live up to expectation. We find out the true identity of Dan Sharp, for example, right at the end, but I’m not sure it was worth the wait, given keeping him out of the narrative until that point forces some artificiality into the transcripts that grated a little. 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. And then a writer approaches them. He wants to give them a chance to tell their side of the story. But only in confronting their darkest fears can the truth begin to surface . . . The success of your novel relies partly on the fact that each complex character is beautifully developed and well-drawn out. How did you go about the task of creating a selection of very distinct characters, and are there any characters that hold a specific place in your heart?

As the story concludes, Helen sees two figures waiting for her under a yew tree, and she recognizes them as Jenny and Michelle, the wives of the missing lighthouse keepers. Hatred, distrust, lies and an unexpected sort of love binds these women in an elegant novel that is as interested in the notion of hope and acceptance as it is in murder and revenge. Although no one actually knows what happened, through the interviews with the women and some literary licence, Dan poses the story of what might have occurred. What Dan learns raises a whole lot of new questions. It wasn’t all sweet with the families, there were rivalries and jealousies and misunderstandings. On the part of the men, subjected to long periods of isolation there were also issues. When the men go missing, rather than the wives seeking comfort from each other, mistrust is magnified and they all deal with their grief in different ways. Throughout the book the descriptions of the women’s lives and thoughts are much more vivid than those of the men. I’m not sure if this was a choice in the narrative or whether the author naturally has a female perspective.Obviously the main plot thread is the question of what happened to the 3 men, but Stonex does a good job exploring the many inner workings of the character's lives - diving into themes about family, the past, guilt and truth. So on the one hand while I said the story's main plot was obvious it actually kinda isn't, in many ways this book as about everything except the exact reason the men disappeared. 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. of any struggle or unusual occurrence. The only detail suggesting a hurried abandonment of the lighthouse, was as a lover of classical music, I cannot fail to mention the “ghost opera” The Lighthouseby Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, which reinterprets the mystery as a And while much of the novel is inspired by history—particularly the Flannan Isles Disappearance of 1900—Stonex has also included just enough otherworldly strangeness to give The Lamplighters an eerie campfire air:

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 had no idea that the real mystery had happened! This is the kind of book that sends me down a googling wormhole. Sometimes the best mysteries an author can create are those based on real events. I absolutely loved the setting of the lighthouse. It was so unique and felt particularly atmospheric and vivid. It actually made me want to go inside a lighthouse, to experience what the characters experienced. The Lamplighters is a tale with teeth, serrated like a shark’s. Once it’s got a hold of you, it doesn’t let go. This is a haunting mystery where the unsaid words, the unshared emotions, and the unfulfilled lives reverberate across the decades not unlike the ghosts rumored to haunt the tower lighthouse. And whether you prefer an atmospheric sea-set mystery or an unsettling story of madness and the mythic, this is a book that’s sure to satisfy.” — Criminal Element It isn’t an easy feat to take a true historic event and transform it into a gripping, suspenseful mystery, but the author has done just that. Told with the help of dual timelines and multiple characters, including the three men and their partners, the story gave a fascinating insight into the daily life of one of history’s most romantic professions: that of the lighthouse keeper. Be warned that Stonex will dispel any illusions of an idyllic lifestyle on small islands or in the middle of the sea. Having hosted such romantic notions myself, I was surprised by descriptions of the austere and regimented lifestyle of the lighthouse keepers as they spent many weeks cut off from isolation in their concrete towers, sending out warning signals to passing seafarers. It was a pleasant surprise to also get the perspectives of the wives and partners they left behind on land, tending the homes and children whilst their men were absent for prolonged periods of time, missing many of the special occasions that normally mark our routines: birthdays, Christmases and other family affairs. This book is not for everyone. I loved it; you may not. The author jumps between 1972 and 1992, as well as individual story lines for each character. Additionally, there are portions of dialogue that are written freeform with some punctuation, but only just. For some, you will not like the jumping around, the characters, or the free flowing dialogue, but I did - I do - because I love poetry.

I was more interested in solving the mystery than the thoughts or feelings of the women left behind as I generally prefer to read crime novels than family dramas. This book crosses genres and can therefore have broad appeal to different audiences. the way of life of the lighthouse keepers. These are based on historical accounts, giving the novel a salty tang of

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.For a while the working title was The Tower, but that sounded too hard, then The Watchmen, but that sounded too sci-fi. I hit on The Lamplighters by accident. It’s the title of a poem by Robert Louis Stevenson, author of Treasure Island, who was part of the Stevenson engineering family who designed most of Scotland’s lighthouses. I love the idea of a sensitive writerly type among these burly, technically minded engineers, and it’s compelling to see how the ocean finds its way into his writing. Lamplighters, traditionally, are nothing to do with lighthouses: they used to maintain gas streetlamps. But the word was right and applies to many of the themes in the book, as well as having the Stevenson connection. It feels warm and romantic, and human. I knew it was right straightaway. Life ashore feels wrong to me. I’m thrown by the unsteadiness of it all. Telephones ring unexpectedly. Local shops sell two types of milk and I can’t decide which to buy. People tell me their news in detail… knowing it won’t make the slightest bit of difference to me. In that way it’s only ever a halfway house, the land life, in that I’m there but not there, like going to a party full of people I’ve never met, ignorant of the dress code and having to leave before midnight. Towards the end, the novel presents us with different possible solutions to the mystery, including the one which, it seems, we should take at face value since it is recounted by an omniscient, third-person narrator. Even then, however, an element of doubt remains: “We’re not sure of the truth, are we? Isn’t that the point? Some mysteries just aren’t meant to be known…”

In all my years I’ve realised there are two kinds of people. The ones who hear a creak in a dark, lonely house, and shut the windows because it must have been the wind. And the ones who hear a creak in a dark, lonely house, light a candle, and go to take a look.”One of the ideas that is explored in The Lamplighters is job automation and the sense of working in a manual job that won’t necessarily exist for much longer. Was this an idea you were keen to explore?