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.

This story is based on a real life mystery about 3 lighthouse keepers who vanish from a lighthouse at sea. This book is beautifully written. It’s a haunting and atmospheric read that kept me wanting to read more. I would definitely recommend it and would like to thank the author, publisher and NetGalley for the chance to read this book in exchange for an honest opinion.

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 Lamplighters is the tale of 3 light keepers who go missing in 1972 from The Maiden, a lighthouse is the middle of the sea. The story shifts from 1972 to 1992 where we see their wives and girlfriends perspectives. Was it a drowning or was it something more mysterious?
It is a beautifully written book that I devoured in 2 days, I just needed to know what happened to the men. The story was compelling and the characters flawed but human. The description of life on the lighthouse was so evocative of a lonely life with the sea as the main character.
A brilliant book!

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.

A book of two halves. Usually I enjoy double-timeline novels, but this one didn't quite work for me. Having visited various lighthouses around the world, I thought the isolated setting was well-depicted and the story of the lighthouse men fascinating, their wives' version less so. Rather disappointing.

A very interesting and intriguing book, I was soon drawn into the mystery.
Unpredictable, I really couldn’t guess what was coming up next.
I liked the way it swung backwards and forwards to tell the story from all the characters and they way the author managed to bring out the stories from the ones left behind.
Very enjoyable to read, not my usual choice but I’m so glad I read it as I really became engrossed with the mystery.

Based on a true story, the author updates the action from 1900 to 1972, moves it to Cornwall and imagines how the disappearance of the three lamplighters affected their women who are still, twenty years later, coming to terms with their sudden and unexplained absence.
It’s an affecting and well written novel exploring themes of loneliness, grief and isolation. I particularly liked the description of the landscape and sea. At times I felt that it tried too hard to evoke mystery and the supernatural and was not always convinced by the structure of the narrative but on the whole, I enjoyed both the premise and the writing.

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 received this pre-publication e-book from Picador via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. (Review also posted on my blog, Goodreads and Amazon.)

Cornwall, New Year’s Eve, 1972; a boat approaches the remote lighthouse on Maiden’s Rock bringing a relief lighthouse keeper, but finds the tower deserted. The heavy door is bolted from the inside, the clocks have stopped and the table is set for a meal, but the three men who should have been living there have vanished.
The story is based on a similar disappearance in 1900 from the Flannan Isles lighthouse in the Outer Hebrides. There, three men are widely thought to have been washed away in a storm while trying to secure boxes of supplies, although there are many wilder theories about their disappearance ranging from multiple murder and suicide to alien abduction. Emma Stonex takes the bones of this real episode and clothes them in a tale of love, betrayal, grief, loneliness, fear, the supernatural – and over everything, the fearsome power of the ocean.
The narrative shifts between the three keepers, Arthur, Bill and Vince, during their final days on the Maiden in 1972, and their women ashore in 1992 as they are all approached by a writer who wants to retell the story of the twenty-year-old disappearance. I enjoyed the parallel voices and the retelling from different points of view as the women are interviewed; there was a real sense of information trickling out and the story being pieced together through the relationships and backgrounds of the men and women who were directly involved.
Certain of the supernatural elements of the story did feel rather tacked on – they added atmosphere and some inexplicable events, to be sure, but I felt there was already enough impending menace in the narrative that they could have been left out. That said, the final scenes on the lighthouse were intense and moving, and provided a rounded and satisfying conclusion to the story.
The writing is literary, and the descriptions of the sea (and the characters’ feelings about and relationships with it) are, for the most part, beautifully rendered. The sense of isolation at the lighthouse is mirrored by the women’s isolation ashore, first as they manage alone while their men are on the Maiden, and then as they deal with their grief.
In the final analysis, the book is not so much about the disappearances themselves as about the intense and complex relationships between the men and women involved. Recommended for fans of psychological mysteries with more than a hint of the Gothic.

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.

Intriguing book based on a true story of three lamplighters who go missing.
It's been updated to the 1970/1990's.
Told across the two timelines,it gives an excellent insight into the world of the men who light the lamp,and the women who wait for them.
I was finding that fascinating enough,without the actual mystery.
Three very different characters manned the light,and they were all hiding something.

Very much enjoyed.

An author researching a novel about the dissappearance of three crew members from the Maiden Rock lighthouse 20 years earlier forms the basis for this novel with the timeline switching between the wives/partners that were left behind and the events of twenty years ago with chapters being told by the men involved and their wives/partners.

On reading that this was based on the real life unsolved dissappearance of the crew from the Flannen Isles lighthouse in December 1900 I was intrigued and couldn't wait to get stuck into this book.

In reality however I found this was a novel that divided me, I really liked the storyline as told from the viewpoint of the men isolated at the lighthouse and I found the scene setting particularly good making it easy to visualise the isolation and the beauty of the sea. Sadly when the storyline switched to the viewpoint of the women back on the mainland it didn't work quite so well, their characters never really took shape and it felt disjointed.

I had high hopes for this one and whilst it was an interesting read my lack of enthusiasm for the present day narrative meant it never really drew me in

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.

The premise of the book drew me in. 3 lighthouse keepers disappear, the lighthouse is locked from the inside and they are nowhere to be seen...it’s also based on a true story which will pique my interest straight away.
However, I was halfway through and nothing had happened. The book jumps from 1972 to 1992 throughout. Some perspectives are from the 3 keepers, some are from the 3 widows. The 1992 parts jump from accounts from the women and their answers to being interviewed about what happened.
It’s so hard to follow and keep track, especially if you can’t read huge chunks at once.
I didn’t feel for any of the characters and I couldn’t get invested in the book. It might be the right thing for others, but not for me. Disappointing.

From reading the blurb I was immediately drawn to this book. It promised proper mystery. I found it to be a slow burner on the whole. There's plenty of misdirection and whilst there is an explanation in the end it still leaves some questions unanswered. All week I've been singing 'Ode to Billy Joe' under my breath and I think this book is possibly the reason-there's just one or two things , like Sid and Tommy, that will remain a mystery. It's almost gothic in a salty, briny way.

Whilst I loved the premise for this novel, it didn’t quite live up to its potential for me and I often struggled to pick it up. Not for me sorry.

Very enjoyable. This was an unusual story partly set in a confined lighthouse environment. The 1970s setting was authentic and the characters well described. The sense of foreboding was set up cleverly.

A lengthy atmospheric novel that I confess I struggled with in the beginning but I am glad I pushed on. Told from the views of multiple characters and spanning a twenty year period we peer into the lives of three missing lighthouse keepers and their families they left behind. Part history, part ghost story and unrequited love is tied neatly together by this tale based upon the inspiring poem The Flannan Isle.

The Lamplighters. I was intrigued by the idea of three men going missing from a lighthouse and hoped it would be a good old murder mystery. However, the author decided to take the narrative in many different ways. I enjoyed it at first and it started well but I found it heavy going and became bored. Shame really, I expected more.