The Lamplighters
by Emma Stonex
A review
“We’re not sure of the truth, are we? Isn’t that the point? Some mysteries just aren’t meant to be known…”
In December 1900, the three keepers of the lighthouse on Eilean Mòr, one of the Flannan Isles in the Outer Hebrides, disappeared without a trace. The lighthouse itself was found to be clean and in good shape, with no indication of any struggle or unusual occurrence. The only detail suggesting a hurried abandonment of the lighthouse, was the discovery of one set of oilskins, suggesting that one of the men – unlike the others – had left the lighthouse without them.
The Flannan Isles disappearance is one of the best-known sea-related mysteries. The most probable – and prosaic – explanation is that two of the keepers might have been carried out by freak waves during a storm, with the third suffering the same fate when he tried to assist his comrades. However, there is no lack of alternative theories – ranging from suggestions of a “double-homicide-and-suicide” to alien abduction.
The mystery has kept a hold on artists’ imagination. In 1912, Wilfrid Wilson Gibson wrote the ballad Flannan Isle, retelling the story with some artistic licence (the detail of an “overturned chair” is Gibson’s invention although it is often perceived to be true). The 2018 movie The Vanishing is based on the story, which is also referenced in the much-lauded The Lighthouse of the following year directed by Robert Eggers of The Witch fame. And, as a lover of classical music, I cannot fail to mention the “ghost opera” The Lighthouse by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, which reinterprets the mystery as a Gothic shocker featuring religious mania and a descent into madness.
The Flannan Isles mystery provides the inspiration for The Lamplighters by Emma Stonex. Stonex draws from the real-life incident just the bare bones of the story (the unexplained disappearance of three keepers from a remote lighthouse) and a handful of the more intriguing details (such as the ‘stopped clocks’). Other than that however, she weaves her own tale, and it is definitely a compelling one.
The Lamplighters transposes the events to 1972 and sets them in a rock lighthouse, a “fifty-metre column of heroic Victorian engineering” known as the Maiden, standing out of the sea fifteen nautical miles off the Cornish coast. The lighthouse is manned by three keepers, Principal Keeper Arthur Black, assistant Keeper William ‘Bill’ Walker and Supernumerary Assistant Keeper Vincent ‘Vinny’ Bourne. Like their real-life counterparts, the trio go missing in December, with no obvious explanation to their disappearance. Twenty years later, a writer of nautical fiction decides to write a book about this mystery. The narrative alternates between two timelines – some chapters are set in 1972 and are written from the perspective of the individual keepers; others are set in 1992 and consist mainly of interviews with the author. Through this approach, Stonex teases out two different strands. One the one hand there is the account of the male-centred three-member community of the lighthouse. On the other hand, there is the counternarrative of the women these men left behind, whether during their spells at the lighthouse or, more definitively, following their disappearance.
Towards the end, the novel presents us with different possible solutions to the mystery, including the one which, it seems, we should take at face value since it is recounted by an omniscient, third-person narrator. Even then, however, an element of doubt remains: “We’re not sure of the truth, are we? Isn’t that the point? Some mysteries just aren’t meant to be known…”
While the mystery element drives the narrative
forward, The Lamplighters is not primarily about that. Its strength lies in the
description of the complex relationships between the small cast of characters,
particularly the rivalry between Bill and Arthur and, in parallel, their wives
Jenny and Helen. I also enjoyed the atmospheric descriptions of
the way of life of the lighthouse keepers.
These are based on historical accounts, giving the novel a salty tang of
authenticity. What I found less
convincing are the attempts at including a supernatural element (including
puzzling references to a mysterious “Silver Man”) in a novel which is primarily
‘realist’ in approach. Much as I enjoy supernatural fiction, I felt that the very
human drama of three keepers trapped on a rock out at sea at the mercy of the
elements is more than enough to give The Lamplighters a Gothic flavour, without
the need to resort to ghostly apparitions.
The lighthouse pictured isn't the Flannan Isle lighthouse, it's Point of Ayr in North Wales.
ReplyDeleteThanks for pointing this out!
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