Wow this book was intriguing and beguiling from start to finish, it was impossible to walk away, the intricate weaving of the past and present lives of the lighthouse keepers that vanish without trace not only keeps you asking questions, but there is a supernatural element in the silver man and then the stories of the family members left behind.

With all this and Tempest clearly covering up their business reputation or involvement in their disappearance, I could not put this down or rate this highly enough.

I would like to thank both NetGalley and the publishers for such an astounding book.

A book that gradually builds the tension and relationships between the main characters as the story progresses.
Told from each of the main characters viewpoints the narrative switches from 1972, when the three keepers disappeared, to 1992 and the three surviving wives/girlfriend looking back on what may have happened in the lighthouse twenty years ago.
An entertaining and thought provoking read,. The author really gets to the heart of what it must have been like for the lighthouse keepers and their relationship not only with each other, but also the sea that surrounds them and the lighthouse itself.

This is one of those books where the descriptions are so good you are immediately drawn into the story. There is also a lot of information about lighthouses. It is great to also learn something whilst reading a good story. The result is an unsolved conundrum and makes a fascinating read.

A slow, intense read that builds up quietly in order to really bring you into its universe. Picture it: nothing but the sea, the sky and your conscience. The whole world could end without you realizing, and you could go on forever. Because you don't need anyone else. But there are people ashore who need you, who are waiting for you... Who have been waiting for 20 years.

Nobody knows what happened to the three keepers of the Maiden lighthouse, and it's not the most important. What you need to know about this book is that it's never what it looks like and will never be what you expect. As soon as you think you finally understand something, the story changes direction and new secrets are revealed. And these secrets have secrets.

And yet, in a strange way, everything makes sense because the answer was here all along. We just needed the journey to reach it - and maybe to start over.

The premises of this book intrigued me - 3 keepers go missing in mysterious circumstances from a lighthouse. Not many books set on a lighthouse are there? The story gradually builds till we find out the truth. The story is told in two timescales - the 1970s when the men went missing and the 1990s after the enquiry is over and the relatives are getting on with their lives. The narrators - especially the male ones really brought the story to life.

The Lamplighters by Emma Stonex

Based on the true story of the disappearance of three light keepers, this is a moody, atmospheric novel with a really good mystery at its heart.
I did enjoy it but, sorry to say, not as much as I hoped I would, having seen great reviews on social media. Unfortunately the pace was a little too slow for me and the ‘“what really happened “ part just didn’t ring true.
I did really like the conversation-style interview scenes and the descriptions of the weather/storms were excellent.

Many thanks to NetGalley and to the publisher for giving me the opportunity to read and review this book.

This book does justice to the memory of lighthouses and is a must for those entranced by the history, mystery and tragedy of lighthouses like Smalls, Eilean Mor, and Little Ross. It's bemusing to see some reviews describing this book as too "literary". I'm not quite sure what that means but I found the descriptions of the sea and the meanderings of the solitary mind to be beautiful and interesting – Stonex uses some brilliantly apt metaphors and never slips into cliché. There also seems to be some criticism based on the number of characters and their various viewpoints. The characters are deftly filled out and able to convey the messiness of emotions, grief and morality through the various devices used by the author. I've also seen comments expressing confusion about who is speaking or what is being referred to – it is all part of a well-written and well thought-out narrative (and honestly, if you're paying attention to what the characters are doing and saying, it's not too difficult to guess what's being got at). All I can say to that is, if you're someone who consistently asks "What's going on?" while watching a film, this book is probably not for you. I enjoyed being in the fog-filled grey areas that the Maiden eventually casts light upon. A hugely accomplished début.

I loved this book. The three men who go missing are Arthur, Bill and Vince. And twenty years later their wives Helen, Jenny and Michelle are still trying to come to terms with what happened as an author wants to write a book about the incident, asking questions that have never been answered.

It was like a grown up ghost story. Eerie, claustrophobic, mysterious, melancholic for a lost way of life. I loved finding out about life on the lighthouse. I actually liked the sound of it, routine and isolation - I don't know what that says about me 😂 A really atmospheric page turner.

Inspired by true events, this book narrates the story of the mysterious disappearance of 3 light keepers in Wales in 1972. A writer has decided to resume the story, trying to find the truth, as when rescuers arrived at the lighthouse the door is locked from inside and both clocks inside have stopped at the same time 8.45.

20 years have passed, but the three women left behind by those 3 men have not forgotten, during their conversation with the writer, secrets come out... What really happened?

I couldn't put down this book, so well written and the characters greatly developed. The story is narrated from 6 different point of views: 3 light keepers and the 3 wives, it moves back and forward from the 2 periods. If you like mysteries, you will enjoy reading this,

I would like to thank NetGalley and PanMacmillan for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I loved the idea of this. I was engaged but confused. It was definitely well written but the narrative could’ve been better.

When a relief crew land their boat at the Maiden Rock lighthouse, they discover that all three crew have disappeared without trace. With no clues as to how they could have left the rock, their fate remains a mystery until novelist Dan Sharp decides to investigate. Can he finally solve the mystery of the Maiden?

Taking inspiration from a real-life event, albeit set some 70 years later, The Lamplighters offers up a fascinating mystery - how could 3 men completely vanish from a rock lighthouse, leaving no bodies or clues behind? Alternating between events on the lighthouse in 1972, and the lives of their wives 20 years later, it’s a slow paced story, with just about enough to keep the interest of the reader. I did find the ending rather confused and bizarre, but I guess the loneliness of a lighthouse could do that to someone.

Fascinating and strange in equal measure.

I particularly liked that this story was based on real life events. It was very readable and kept me interested until the end, wanting to know what the outcome would be. It's an unusuale synposis, but I think that just adds to the appeal of this book.

‘The Lamplighters’ by Emma Stonex is a difficult story both to describe and to compartmentalise in genre. I, mistaken by the Author’s Note at the beginning which refers to a true incident in 1900, thought I would be reading a historical story. The action is set in 1972 and 1992. The genre is variously described as horror, ghost, thriller, suspense and mystery. I saw no evidence of ghosts and it doesn’t feel to me like a thriller. It is a story of human emotions and the consequences of actions, set against the atmospheric backdrop of the sea.
Cornwall, 1972. The Maiden Rock, a lighthouse on a rock tower out at sea, is the scene of a mysterious disappearance. When the relief boat arrives, all three men who should have been on the rock have gone. Are they dead, kidnapped, drowned, or disappeared to start a new life? The story of principal keeper Arthur Black, assistant keeper Bill Walker, and supernumerary assistant keeper Vince Bourne is told in two timelines – the men’s stories in 1972 and that of their wives 20 years later when they answer the questions of a journalist researching a book about the disappearances. But why now? And what secrets does he think these women have hidden all these years?
Stonex writes beautifully about the sea, the rugged beauty, the loneliness it conjures in the minds of men alone, within sight of their loved ones on shore but a million miles from their touch. The men’s lives are driven by the sun and the moon, the regimen of keeping their light going. Arthur loves early morning the best; ‘The time I think of you the most is when the sun comes up. The moment before, the minute or two, when night yawns for morning and the sea starts to separate from the sky. Day after day the sun comes back. I don’t know why. I’ve had my light safe here, shining through the dark and I’ll keep it shining: the sun needn’t bother today. But still he comes and still come my thoughts of you.’
The three men are loners, they have to be to survive the rigours of their job and living conditions. Being a lighthouse keeper attracts a certain personality. Each man has his own way of coping with the empty time; Bill carves seashells, they all smoke constantly. They talk politics, the space race, the Cold War. Each man has his loves, regrets, secrets, guilts and griefs. Are these on-shore things irrelevant to life at the Maiden, or do real life events invade their isolated world-within-a-world? Each man dwells in his own mind and as the weather worsens, the mind begins to play tricks.
This is more a story about the three men on the Maiden and less a closed-room thriller, less a what-happened-here mystery. And I was drawn more to the characters of the three men – their life on the Maiden, the effect of their isolation surrounded by the might of the sea and weather – than on the three women ashore and the answer to the mystery.
Read more of my book reviews at http://www.sandradanby.com/book-reviews-a-z/

There have been a couple of other books based on an actual strange story concerning the disappearance of three men from a lighthouse in 1900. As the evidence for their disappearance is practically nil, the door is left wide open for speculation and great stories. This is one of them.

​In this stylish version, a novelist of maritime adventure approaches the three women who were married to the missing men in an attempt to find out more about them. The wives should have been friends as they lived close by each other in the cottages by the sea and have a connection in their men's occupations. But that isn't the case. They have their reasons and are all linked.

The book is laid out in chapters by each of the women and the men in their own words. The women's world is often mundane with domestic issues around the children, loneliness and marriage. This serves to contrast the types of loneliness the men suffer at sea: the private thoughts, the darkness and confinement, the haunting and threatening sea itself. Interspersed with these chapters are newspaper reports about the missing men.

The story gets off to a dull and slow start but builds the detail. Each character has their own style of writing - one doesn't use inverted commas, for example. As the book develops there are hints of hidden things, supernatural perhaps, secrets that are too dark to reveal.

​This is an atmospheric and clever novel that grips tighter the further you read until it becomes intense. The descriptions of the sea and its power, and the functions and practical aspects of lighthouses and their keepers are fascinating and a bit overwhelming. Ultimately though, this is a story of loneliness, yearning and loss. A great debut novel.

I read this book in one sitting. It was unlike anything I have read before. Told in dual time lines, past and present and with multiple points of view, we follow the mystery of the disappearance of three lighthouse keepers.
Although I would almost describe this as a cozy mystery it read very fast. The short chapters and multiple unique voices kept the story moving at a brilliantly fast pace, and I finished the book unknowingly in a matter of hours.
It really shone a spotlight on the effects of isolation, mental health, tight knit communities, gender roles, motherhood and relationships.
A quick and quiet mystery with a lot of depth.

A brilliantly engaging, atmospheric read. Who can resist a locked in mystery?

Cornwall 1972 three keepers disappear from a remote lighthouse, its miles from the shore, the entrance to the lighthouse is locked from the inside, and the clocks have stopped. The last weather log entry written by the principal Keeper says there had been a mighty storm. But the skies have been clear all week.

What happened to the three men? We then jump twenty years to the women that were left behind, they are United in their grief and tragedy but want to know what happened. The story is told between the two dates 1972 as the lamplighters work on the rock before they disappear, giving each keeper a backstory, a personality and their interactions with their wives and girlfriends, bringing each character to life and 1992 as the women Helen, Jenny and Michelle should be United and supportive of each other by the tragedy, but instead it drove them apart. Why? Then they are approached by a writer who wants them to tell their stories. Can the truth come out as they confront their darkest fears?

Although this story itself isn’t true it is based on a true life mystery of the disappearance of three lighthouse keepers from the Flannan isles in 1900. The author has changed the location from the Outer Hebrides to Cornwall. As well as changing the dates. It has been well researched, as it looks at the disappearance of the three men, but also looks at their personal lives.


The author manages to maintain. A tense and unsettling atmosphere throughout the story, providing the perfect setting to reveal all the hidden secrets at the end. I truly satisfying read.

I would like to thank #netgalley and #PanMacmillan for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest, fair and unbiased review.

The Lamplighters by Emma Stonex.. I’m flew through this one ipretty fast in it right now and I’ve got to say it’s was a great! Thriller! It was very atmospheric and the ending really really suprised! Which is what we like to see!
The lamplighters is a Thriller/literary fiction novel about Three lamplighters who go mysteriously missing while they are tending and staying in the lighthouse... so 20 years later we follow the lives of The three wives of the missing men who get brought back into the missing case after a young Novelist gets in touch and wants to try and find the answers to what really happened 20 years ago...

3.5 - A story, loosely, very loosely based on the disappearance of three men from a lighthouse in Scotland. This one is 15 miles off the Cornish coast. So why and how did three men go missing from a locked door that can only be opened from the inside. Once you get used to the style of writing, the going backwards from 1972 to 1992 plus the 6 different points of view, it was quite compelling. Also claustrophobic sharing such a small space with two other men. I liked hearing how the keepers lived, the chores and maintenance needed to keep the lamps in good working order in the days before automation. Adding to this mix, there’s the partners (two wives and 1 girlfriend) and all six have some secret or other. Fantastic descriptions of the sea in all its moods - worth reading just for that alone. Bit of a slow burner all the way through as things are explained. All in all a pretty good book!

I love the premise of this book because I find stories about lighthouse keepers fascinating! Based on a true story about the disappearance of three lighthouse keepers, The Lamplighters is both historical fiction and locked-room mystery. I really enjoyed all the details about work in the lighthouse, the daily routine and the tedious waiting. I liked the portrayal of personality clashes between the three keepers and how the tiniest things can cause an issue when you're stuck with each other for weeks. The writing is evocative and I particularly enjoyed the passages about the sea.

What I didn't love was the storyline involving the keepers' wives, taking place 20 years later. I didn't mind the interview format but I felt there's a lot of filler information that has nothing to do with the mystery. Certain things are kept from the reader for no reason and then they end up not mattering anyway. I didn't feel I learned anything about the women and I didn't believe their relationships with each other. The resolution to the mystery is disappointingly common and feels like a run-of-the-mill thriller trope. I wish the book had focused only on the men and their psychological battle with each other. There's a potential mine of issues to be explored relating to toxic masculinity, superstitions, redemption and loss but the book only skims through them. Overall, a beautifully written story that fell short for me in the end.

The book is inspired by the true event that occurred in 1990 when 3 lighthouse keepers disappeared from a remote rock in the Outer Hebrides. Stonex has created her fictional version of a similar event and tells it predominantly from the perspectives of the wives, who 20 years on still do not know what may have happened to their partners. It also includes insights from the men before their disappearance in 1972.

Helen is the wife of Arthur the principle keeper. She is an author that seems level headed, practical and convincing. Jenny is the wife of Bill the Assistant keeper, who is very ordinary, seemingly from humble beginnings, has never worked and is very bitter. Michelle is the girlfriend of Vince the supernummary assistant, whose life has completely moved on.

Helen has possibly influenced an author to write a book about the unresolved event. Jenny only agrees to take part because she doesn’t want Helen to tell lies about what went on. As the story unfolds you learn more about the characters and what has transpired, where relationships have changed or broken down. They are all flawed characters in some ways. None are particularly likeable, which can be a risk in book, but the fact that this comes through as part of their character development, keeps it highly intriguing and absorbing, and so it still works. Learning about what has transpired, their inner turmoils, and with a somewhat subtle eerie context, I found myself really trying to put myself in their shoes to fathom how I might have responded to living a life around a lighthouse as they have. Being gently meandering, melancholic and atmospheric, it offers a unique read.