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The Lamplighters by Emma Stonex (view source)
Revision as of 20:48, 4 March 2021
, 20:48, 4 March 2021no edit summary
Each year, on the anniversary of the disappearance, Helen Walker made a pilgrimage to her old home but the twentieth anniversary is somewhat different. An adventure novelist, Dan Sharp, is planning a non-fiction book about the disappearances and he wants to speak to the people who were left behind. Although it had seemed that the women had told all that they know of late 1972, there were secrets still to be teased out.
Just occasionally you read a book and before you're at the bottom of the first page you know that it's going to be special: that's what happened with ''The Lamplighters''. I knew I was in safe hands. I had every confidence in the research that had been done to the point where I knew that there was a great deal more that Emma Stonex could have told me, but hadn't needed to. When you read you'll know exactly what it was like to be imprisoned in a tower. You'll understand the simmering tensions which need to be tamped down as there is no walking away from the situation. You'll understand the frustrations which can come from something as simple as your bunk now not being quite long enough for you ''and'' curved.
The characterisation is excellent: the men and their wives/girlfriend are captured perfectly. Even shadowy Trident (which runs the lighthouses and shouldn't be confused with Trinity House) is a character in its own right. I was stunned by the plot: the clues were all there but I was still uncertain about who was responsible for the disappearances until the very last moment. The book comes with the highest possible recommendation and I'd like to thank the publishers for letting Bookbag have a review copy.