Book Review – The Light Keeper by Cole Moreton

A young woman stands on the brink of a high cliff overlooking the sea, arms wide open as if to let the wind carry her over. She has run away from home to this wild, beautiful place to make a decision that is, for her, truly a matter of life and death.

Sarah is pursued by Jack, her distraught husband, who is desperate to find her on these hills before it is too late. Will he make it in time?

Volunteers on the cliff edge patrol for people to save, but the number of men and women going over has ominously increased of late . . .

Does the secret lie with the Keeper who lives alone in the old lighthouse, a few steps from the four hundred foot drop in this gorgeous, terrifying place? The radiance has gone from his llife, but we do not know how or why.

The Light Keeper is set in and around the real Georgian lighthouse at Belle Tout on the South Downs, in a dramatic landscape known the whole world over. The white faces of the Seven Sisters rise from the waves, a series of high chalk cliffs with a primal beauty. We are close to Beachy Head, where the lost and lonely come to end their lives, but this is a story of hope, redemption and love.

Published by @marylebone_house

What a gorgeous little book this is! I wasn’t sure what to expect at first and was very pleasantly surprised when I started reading it

The Keeper lives on the cliff edge of the South Downs, in a half renovated lighthouse near the infamous suicide spot of Beachy Head. Isolated and engulfed in his own pain and despair, he keeps himself to himself. But when a missing woman turns up at his lighthouse, he finds himself saving himself in his attempts to rescue her

What I loved about this book was, despite the very real and hardhitting subjects, there’s a stunning dreamlike quality to the writing. It’s completely immersive and swings from swirling and urgent to lulling and serene. I absolutely loved it .
It’s a pretty small book, at just over 200 pages but so much is packed between those pages. It tackles themes of grief, suicide, childlessness, domestic violence, faith and the loss of it. Achingly sad at times, but with a beacon of hope that flickers slowly before burning brightly, The Light Keeper really took my breath away with it’s beauty. I’ll remember it for a long time to come

Thanks to the publisher for sending a #gifted copy as part of the blog tour

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