They say the sea keeps its secrets . . .
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. The Principal Keeper's weather log describes a mighty storm, but the skies have been clear all week.
What happened to those three men, out on the tower? The heavy sea whispers their names. The tide shifts beneath the swell, drowning ghosts. Can their secrets ever be recovered from the waves?
Twenty years later, the women they left behind are still struggling to move on. Helen, Jenny and Michelle should have been united by the tragedy, but instead it drove them apart. And then a writer approaches them. He wants to give them a chance to tell their side of the story. But only in confronting their darkest fears can the truth begin to surface . . .
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When Jory opens the curtains, the day is light and grey, the radio playing a half-known song. 1, RELIEF
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(@picadorbooks, 4 March 2021, 278 pages, ebook, copy from the publisher via # NetGalley and voluntarily reviewed)
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This has been on my radar since I read glowing reviews in a NetGalley mailing months ago. I really wanted to read the book. I have a fondness for lighthouses and lighthouse keepers (don't ask!). The book is inspired by a true story and I'm pretty sure I've read another book or seem a movie based on it because the events are definitely familiar. I enjoyed the mystery elements even though these are a bit more played-down than I expected. I also liked the fact the story is set in 1972 and twenty years later, alternating between both timelines and gradually reveals what links them both. I was impressed by the research the author did and the experience of the keeper's comes across is very authentic.
