By BAMUTURAKI MUSINGUZI

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Inspired by a haunting true story, Emma Stonex’s debut novel The Lamplighters tells of the mysterious disappearance of three lighthouse keepers from a remote tower miles from the Cornish coast, 50 years ago, and the wives who were left behind.

The ghost story is set in Cornwall in 1972. Three keepers — Principal Keeper Arthur Black, Assistant Keeper William "Bill" Walker and Supernumerary Assistant Vincent Bourne — vanish from the remote Maiden Rock Lighthouse. The nine storied lighthouse is owned by Trident House.

The lost seamen however left behind a series of clues: The entrance door is locked from the inside, two clocks are stuck on the same time, and a table is laid for a meal that remained uneaten. The Principal Keeper’s weather log describes a storm circling the tower — but the skies, inexplicably, had been clear all week.

"The Lamplighters" book cover. PHOTO | MORGAN MBABAZI

A search and rescue team is sent to the tower to search for the missing seamen. There is no indication of a getaway, no sign of flight, nothing to suggest the keepers have gone anywhere. The mysterious disappearance of the seamen results in a number of conspiracies.

The wives, proud and pragmatic Helen, jumpy, depressed homebody Jenny and harried mother Michelle have kept each other at a distance over 20 years. Each defends her husband’s reputation and has her own reasons for keeping silent.

Twenty years later in 1992, the widows are visited by adventure novelist Dan Sharp who is determined to find out the truth about the men’s disappearance. He wants to give them a chance to tell their side of the story for his next book. Moving between the women’s stories and the men’s last weeks together in the lighthouse, long-held secrets surface and truths twist into lies as Sharp pieces together what happened, why, and who to believe.

Interweaving the individual stories of the men’s last days on the rock with the women’s accounts of their lives then, now and in between, the immaculately paced narrative circles the central awful truth inside the abandoned lighthouse.

The Lamplighters is an intoxicating, heart-stopping, riveting, and suspenseful mystery, an unforgettable story of love and grief that explores the way our fears blur the line between the real and the imagined.

The central themes in the 368-page novel, that was published by Picador in 2021, are isolation and grief.

Stonex says her debut novel is inspired by the true story of three lighthouse keepers who disappeared from a remote rock light on the island of Eilean Mor in the Outer Hebrides in December 1900.

Stonex was born in 1983 and grew up in Northamptonshire. She is a novelist who has written several books under a pseudonym. The Lamplighters has already been translated into more than 20 languages. Before becoming a writer, she worked as an editor at a major publishing house.