- Paperback: 224 pages
- Publisher: Marylebone House (21 May 2020)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1910674567
- ISBN-13: 978-1910674567
Synopsis
Sarah stands on the brink, arms open wide as if to let the wind carry her away.
She’s come to the high cliffs to be alone, to face the truth about her life, to work out what to do.
Her lover Jack is searching, desperate to find her before it is too late. But Sarah doesn’t want to be found. Not yet. Not by him.
And someone else is seeking answers up here where the seabirds soar – a man known only as the Keeper, living in an old lighthouse right on the cusp of a four-hundred-foot drop. He is all too aware that sometimes love takes you to the edge . . .
Review
The Light Keeper is an emotional rollercoaster of a read, full of drama and tension. This book is about Sarah, Jack and a man known only as the Keeper, whose lives converge at Beachy Head. Sarah is runing away from her life and Jack, she doesn’t want to be found. Jack is desperate to find Sarah, frightened that she has taken her life. The Keeper lives in a lighthouse on the edge of one of the cliffs, everyday he sees how life and love can take you to the edge. They are linked together by love, loss and grief which is eating away at their lives. As a debut novel this is remarkable, the writing flows beautifully and Cole Moreton really captures the deep emotions of all three characters with skill and understanding.
Cole Moreton is like an artist in that he gradually builds his characters personalities layer by layer, so the reader slowly gets to know them as they would in real life, making them more personable so you become invested in their story. Sarah has gone to Beachy Head to think, both about her future and past. She lost her mother when she was three years old but never grieved and never wants to talk about her mother until now. Not only is she mourning the loss of her mother, but also the fact that she has had problems conceiving and has had her last course of IVF. The pressure has put a strain on her marriage to Jack, and he is having his own problems. Jack is the son of a famous rock star who wants nothing to do with him, so he is mourning for the absence of a father figure in his life, leaving him filled with an anger he can’t control. For me the most interesting character was the Keeper, silently watching from his tower who finds himself part of Sarah and Jack’s story. He is solitary by choice, living with the ghost and memories of his wife, who he was renovating the lighthouse with. His grief and hurt literally dropped of the page for me, his enforced isolation almost like a self inflicted punishment.
The attention to detail in his characters and their psyche is also apparent in Cole Moreton’s depiction of the setting. He captures the raw beauty of the South Downs, the Seven Sister’s Hills and Beachy Head, the everchanging sea and the resilience of the flowers that continue to grow there. He also captures the danger, the crumbling cliffs, the sheer drop on to the rocks, a place frequently visited by those in despair wishing to end their lives. The constant erosion of the cliffs, that will eventually take the Keeper’s Lighthouse, are a constant reminder of the transience of life, that in the end, pardon the pun, we all fall of the edge.
The Light Keeper is a book that really touched me, and left me raw with it’s emotion. Cole Moreton has created three flawed characters that I really felt a connection with, all touched by grief and dealing with it in very different ways. Beautifully written, this book had me gripped until the last page, wanting to see the outcome for all the characters. He also brings to light the brilliant work of those who patrol Beachy Head and the cliffs, and who try to help those who go there in desperation. This is a stunning debut and I look forward to reading the next book from Cole Moreton.
I’d like to thank Rhonds Hardie and Marylebone House Books for sending me a copy of the book for review.
