Books set in Lighthouses

Books set in lighthouses

The lighthouse is  a great literary setting. There are several novels in which a lighthouse plays an important role and has a particularly unnerving presence. So, here are a few of them that may allow you a little insight into these places which are as remote as you can get, as lonely as you can feel.

They stand on rocks, on islands, warning ships of nearby rocks. Their light shines brightly over dark and dangerous seas. Sometimes however, the real danger is on the island, in the very building where you think you are safe….

The Lighthouse by Fran Dorricott

Small Scottish island in the highlands

A recent addition to the lighthouse novels. This one is key to the plot. Several friends spend time here at a reunion but things go very wrong, very quickly….

This lighthousee might be fictional but it’s in the Scottish highlands and very well evoked. The landscape Is rough, its surrounded by rocks, rough seas and there seems to be hidden dangers all around. Oh so not the place for a reunion in real life but in a crime novel it’s deliciously dark and chilling….

Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane

Lighthouse on an island as part of a mental health asylum

Oh if you haven’t read this novel, read it now. It’s very dark and clever and has a delicious twist I never saw coming. When I discovered it, I think I cheered. It’s so clever and there’s a lighthouse which features here, situated on an island with a mental health asylum. The scene setting here is epically good and the lighthouse is central to the plot.

Dark, very dark and there is a sense of foreboding.

The Light between Oceans by M L Stedman

Something washes up here that will change the life of the lighthouse keepers for ever

Oh this has to be the most dreamiest of locations for a light house. Modelled on a real life lighthouse in Australia, this is the setting for one of the most heartbreaking stories I have ever read. A couple go here to live as the husband is a light house keeper. But this is hard work and even though it might look idyllic, it’s hard to live here. They have to rely on a boat bringing supplies from the mainland. One day a boat washes up, and there is a dead man inside. However, there is also a baby very much alive What the couple decide to do next…..blimey I was bawling by the end.

The Lighthouse Witches by C J Cooke

Remote Scottish island

Once again we head to the Scottish highlands and to a very remote lighthouse on a cliff. It’s “a lighthouse that has weathered more than storms.”

Mysterious and terrible events have happened on this island. It started with a witch hunt. Now, centuries later, islanders are vanishing without explanation…..

Now that is one fine premise. The entire setting is one of my favourites as it is so vivid and sharply drawn. There are supernatural elements here. There’s witchery goings on, a disappearance, a haunting atmosphere and a mystery to solve. Oh my word this is a novel and a light house you are never going to forget.

But what really happened at the lighthouse all those years ago?

The Lamplighters by Emma Stonex

A real life lighthouse mystery

A real life lighthouse and a real life mystery in this one! Although the book takes place in Cornwall, the real life lighthouse was in Eilean Mòr, and the story of the Flannan Isles mystery in 1900.

“Cornwall, 1972. Three keepers vanish from a remote lighthouse, miles from the shore. The entrance door is locked from the inside. The clocks have stopped.”

Spooky, mysterious and the tension is ramped up as you know this actually happened. I love stories where the author has taken a real life story and imagined what might have happened. However she has done more than that, as she has crafted a story and atmosphere of her own and it’s a stunning result. That cover is something else as well!

The Lighthouse Keeper’s Daughter by Hazel Gaynor

Small lighthouse in Northumberland – with links to Grace Darling!

Saved this until last as it’s set in Northumberland and tells the reimagined story of Grace Darling who saved men at sea in a small boat and took them to the local lighthouse.

So, lighthouses…..not always a sign or rescue and safety. Lighthouses are fascinating places and have lots of stories to tell no matter where in the world they are.