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The Lamplighters cover art

The Lamplighters

Written by: Emma Stonex
Narrated by: Tom Burke, Indira Varma
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Publisher's Summary

Inspired by a haunting true story, a gorgeous and atmospheric novel about the mysterious disappearance of three lighthouse keepers from a remote tower miles from the Cornish coast - and about the wives left behind.

On New Year’s Eve, 1972, a boat pulls up to the Maiden Rock lighthouse with relief for the keepers. But no one greets the boat. When the entrance door, locked from the inside, is battered down, rescuers find an empty tower. A table is laid for a meal not eaten. The Principal Keeper’s weather log describes a storm raging round the tower, but the skies have been clear all week. And the clocks have all stopped at 8:45. What strange fate befell the doomed men?

The heavy sea whispers their names. Black rocks roll beneath the surface, drowning ghosts. And out of the swell like a finger of light, the salt-scratched tower stands lonely and magnificent.

Two decades later, a writer determined to find out the truth about the men’s disappearance visits the wives who were left behind. Moving between the women’s stories and the men’s last weeks together in the lighthouse, we see long-held secrets surface and truths twist into lies as we try to piece together what happened, why, and who to believe. In her riveting and suspenseful novel, Emma Stonex writes a story about isolation and obsession, reality and illusion, and what it takes to keep the light burning when all else is swallowed by darkness.

©2021 Emma Stonex (P)2020 HarperCollins Publishers

What listeners say about The Lamplighters

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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Hard to keep track

There were time it was hard to keep track of the story (which timeline, narrator).the ending felt very rushed after so much time spent leading up to it.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Beautiful novel

This was such a well told story. The characters were genuine and flawed and the narrators were elegant. I was so intrigued that I couldn't stop listening.

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Not what I expected

I was expecting a solid mystery, with clues slowly unraveling, churning toward an unforeseen conclusion. Instead there was just endless prattling on and on … I love the sea, I hate the sea, can’t look at the sea, I take milk in my tea, but don’t put it in the cup first! Blah blah blah. Details like that, on and on…..
A bit of drama involving a child, but it was hard to care that much as the characters were so morose ALL the time. Not really developed well.
The ending was full of eye rolling cliches. Ugh, couldn’t stomach it.
On the plus side, I did like the writing style…very interesting how just one character imparted their story to another without the constant he said she said that you would normally get in an interview. The narrators did a satisfactory job, though on occasion the accents were so thick, I couldn’t make out what the were saying…. But I did speed it up to put me out of my misery. Maybe that’s why,

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1 person found this helpful