Light: A Novel [Paperback]

Margaret Elphinstone (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 5, 2007

Set on a tiny island off the Isle of Man in 1831, Light is a family drama that reads like a pulse-pounding thriller. Sisters-in-law Lucy and Diya are raising their children together far from prying Victorian eyes, even as they dread the day the outside world will come to their island. That invasion arrives in the form of a surveyor and his assistant, sent to the remote outpost because a new lighthouse must be built and, according to custom of the time, a man must be found to replace the current lighthouse keeper, Lucy. That Lucy does a man’s job and Diya turns out to be a highly educated Indian woman shocks and confuses the men, but soon romance blossoms. Faced with banishment from the only home she’d ever known, Diya’s hot-headed daughter attempts a terrible act that may lead the family to ruin. With an assured eye for capturing the alien beauty of the island, Margaret Elphinstone creates an empathetic and compassionate tale of two singular women coming to terms with a sea change in their lives.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Elphinstone's inert ninth novel (following Gato) is set in 1831 on Ellan Bride isle, "hardly more than a rock with a strip of green, surrounded by the silvery sea," off the more populated Isle of Man. Lighthouse keeper Lucy inherited the job—at two-thirds salary—when her brother Jim was killed in a storm five years earlier. Jim's India-born widow, Diya, has two children, Breesha and Mallay, growing up as siblings to Lucy's out-of-wedlock son, Billy. Lucy, scarred by past love, keeps the ancient lighthouse lit each night, as her brother and father did before her, while the educated Diya tends the garden and gathers puffins from their burrows, dreaming of her childhood in India. But when handsome, reserved Archibald Buchanan and his kind, assistant, Ben Groat, suddenly arrive to survey for a new lighthouse, the women face changes and choices. In alternating chapters, Elphinstone renders the solitude of the two women amid the salt air and crashing waves, along with the ambitions and fears of Archibald and Ben. Aiming for stark, the results are static. (Feb.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Sisters-in-law Lucy and Diya have three children between them and live on the remote island of Ellan Bride off the Isle of Man in 1831. Ever since Diya's husband died, Lucy has lit the lamps and polished the reflectors in the lighthouse, whose beam saves an untold number of sailors' lives every year in the treacherous seawaters. But new technology has brought Archie Buchanan, an ambitious surveyor, and his hardworking assistant, Ben Groat, to the tiny island to scope out a project for building a new lighthouse. The women are frightened about what the change means for their future, while the children, at first nervous in the presence of strangers, are intrigued by their equipment and far-ranging conversations, which provide glimpses of the outside world. Then Diya's strong-willed daughter provokes a crisis by attempting to lead Archie astray on a remote footpath. In this moving depiction of a close-knit family learning to navigate overwhelming change, Elphinstone also brings alive the stark beauty of the island through her graceful, finely detailed descriptions of the wildlife and landscape. Joanne Wilkinson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: Canongate U.S. (February 5, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1841958808
• ISBN-13: 978-1841958804
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,096,703 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars `Et in Arcadia ego', February 15, 2008

By 

J. Cameron-Smith "Expect the Unexpected" (ACT, Australia) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Light: A Novel (Paperback)

The setting for this novel is the lighthouse on Ellan Bride, a small island off the Isle of Man in 1831. Two sisters-in-law (Diya and Lucy Geddes) and their three children (Breesha, Billy and Mally) have been maintaining the light house for years since the death of the lighthouse keeper, Diya's husband Jim. Their way of life, and their livelihood, is threatened because of a plan to modernise the lights.

Archibald Buchanan, soon to join the `Beagle' expedition under Captain Robert Fitzroy, and Ben Groat visit Ellan Bride to survey the island on behalf of Robert Stevenson. While the action within the novel takes place over a few short days, it is set within a much broader timeframe.

This is a very rich novel, set in a wonderful setting. It weaves fact and fiction so seamlessly that the reader may well wonder where one begins and the other ends. But the story itself does not simply rely on the history for its appeal. These are fully realised characters, living their own lives.

I picked up this novel for two reasons. I like reading about lighthouses, and I'm especially interested in the contribution of Robert Stevenson to lighthouse building. I also enjoyed the one other novel I've read by Ms Elphinstone, and this novel has me wanting to read the rest.

Highly recommended.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully written..., December 5, 2009

By 

nonpareil (rural New England, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Light: A Novel (Paperback)

The author explores personal and societal foibles while spinning a complex and fascinating web around a seemingly simple, almost miniature plot: due to politics, an isolated, defenseless family group must leave the small island lighthouse carefully maintained by three generations. The book is absolutely beautifully written, from the descriptions of the childhood of one protagonist in colonial India to the class differences of the Isle of Man to the origins of the Scottish surveyors whose assignment to the tiny fictional Manx island sets off the main events. You'll love and hate the characters - one of the children possesses some real viciousness which then turns her mother into a nasty animal ... some well-portrayed reality - and will likely be disappointed with the non-romantic finish. But you'll love every minute of the skillful denouement and descriptions of the land and sea and plant and animal life.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lighthouse Favourite, May 5, 2009

By 

Anton Nel (Pretoria, South Africa) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Light: A Novel (Paperback)

The drama unfolds on a small island, Ellan Bride, off the Isle of Man. The main characters are two sisters-in-law and their three children. Their lonely but routine existence is threatened by the Northern Lights institution under the leadership of Robert Stevenson launching an upgrade programme that includes the replacement of the lighthouse on the small island. Lucy inherited the light keeper's job from her family and is now entrenched in that way of living. Diya, Lucy's deceased brother's wife, shares her existence on the island.

The story starts with the unwelcome arrival of the planning team for the upgrade of the lighthouse and tells about the impact of the visit on all the characters. As a result, some of the history of the island ladies' life also surfaces, developing the characters in a quite realistic way, albeit a rather strange life.

The author captures the existence of light keepers on lonely islands very well. As a lighthouse fanatic, this reviewer has read enough about life on islands to be able to understand such an existence and found the descriptions very much believable and realistic. The book does not contain much technical descriptions of light house operations, but the little that is there is accurate.

This reviewer enjoyed the characters in the book. They are diverse enough to be interesting, but never exceptionally weird. One can recognise most of the traits and characteristics in your own circle of friends and family and if not, it is easy to understand the personality types, given the characters' jobs and background. The author managed to create the perfect characters for the story she wanted to tell.

The story develops relatively slowly but is never boring. It suits the island milieu very well. The events on the island are interspersed with relevant reflections from the characters history that support the unfolding of the story and the development of the characters very well. The reader eventually knows just enough about the characters to understand them in the context of the novel. This reviewer enjoyed this book much more than a crime novel by a well-known crime writer; read a few months ago, that played out at a lighthouse on an island. Perhaps it is because the reviewer is also laid back (!) but this type of story is much more suited to a light house milieu than a crime story. There is enough drama to keep the story interesting, without blood and guts being spilled in each chapter. There is even a cute intimate (sex) scene...!

The author uses some phonetic writing when capturing the conversations of the characters, e.g. "We'd a local man to pilot us - a stranger couldna get through that place..." (p.215) and "D'you think it'll be fair the morn?" (p.282) and "'Och, s'truth!' cried Archie. `Can we no leave this until the morn?'" (p.295). She also uses a sprinkling of old-type English words, typical of the era (early 1800s). This is a brilliant technique and any one who has ever heard the Scottish accent can immediately picture the character! The author never over-uses it and it reads easy and flows naturally into the story line. This reviewer found that it greatly enhances the story. The references to famous voyage of the HMS Beagle are also a wonderful touch.

This reviewer thoroughly enjoyed the book and recommends it to any one interested in lighthouses, Scotland or family dramas. It tells of a bygone era and about vulnerable women but with strong character. It tells of science and its impact on humanity. It shows how people are forced to confront their challenges and overcome them, sometimes with scars, but mostly as a more mature person. The paperback version to which this review refers is well bound with a lovely cover image of a lighthouse painting by Francis Danby.