Book Review: The Lamplighters

As a child, I was known as a bookworm. I used to come home from elementary school and plop down on the couch to read a book or two before dinner. However, I feel that I have lost that quality a bit in the past few years, and in recent months have set out to regain some of my previous reading fervor. During the summertime leg of my quest, I picked up the gripping mystery novel, The Lamplighters, by Emma Stonex, published in 2021.

As alluded to by the title, The Lamplighters tells the story of three lighthouse keepers that disappeared amid rough seas off the coast of England at the tail end of 1972. No clues were left as to their disappearance: no bodies nor signs of struggle are present, and the door was locked from the inside. Even more strange, all tower clocks were stopped at a quarter to nine, and only two place settings were found on the dining table. Twenty years later, a writer reignites the memories of the disappearances with plans to write a novel chronicling the enigma.

With the setting of the gripping mystery oscillating between two different time periods, readers hear from both the perspectives of men slowly going insane in 1972, and those of their wives and lovers who are still dealing with the emotional wreckage 20 years later. These men, of mixed reputations, are crammed together on a lighthouse miles from the rest of civilization, and begin to turn on each other. Two decades later, the three women are still divided by the tragedy, and their respective obligations to honor the assumed dead men. They debate whether to keep the story to themselves, with the accompanying twisting interpersonal relationships that linked shore and sea, or to divulge details to an outsider, the writer.

The novel pushes past superficiality to explore deep themes, exploring how we express love and grief. More than just a thrilling bedtime read, the book is a commentary on grudges, betrayal, loneliness, and insanity. Not your typical read, it is a book that I deeply enjoyed, one I hope you will as well on your own reading journey.