Pharos: A Ghost Story (Hardcover)

by Alice Thompson (Author) "THE LIGHT during darkness must never go out: it was the one cardinal rule of the lighthouse..." (more)
Key Phrases: relief boat, lantern room, oil room, Jacob's Rock, Northern Lighthouse Board, King of Light (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"A highly original tale full of evocative images." -- The Glasgow Herald

"An extraordinary work...Thompson's unrelenting intellect and distinctive imaginnation is once again at the helm of Scotland's bravest writing." -- Scotland on Sunday

"From the watery depths emerges a story dripping with human evil." -- The Scotsman

"Highly enticing." -- The Bookseller (UK)

"Ingenious...Pharos rejects the classic ghost story, for an impressively disorieentating opening out of its generic rules." -- Times Literary Supplement

"It's difficult to leave it behind and emerge from this novella's ghostly spell.." -- RT Bookclub

"The elegance and accuracy with which Thompson uses language is formidable" -- The Independent (UK)

"The perfect book for anyone who loves ghost stories." -- Dallas Morning News

Product Description
young woman is washed up on the shores of Jacob's Rock, a remote lighthouse island off the coast of Scotland. She does not know who she is or how she got there. She has no memory. The keeper of the lighthouse and his assistant take her in and feed and clothe her. But this mysterious woman is not all that she seems, and neither is the remote and wind-swept island. Pharos is an imaginative ghost story from an award-winning author.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books (October 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312318103
• ISBN-13: 978-0312318109
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,608,878 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great ghost story, October 1, 2003

By	Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews (#1 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Twenty-seven miles off the coast of Scotland lies the island that is the home to the Jacob's Rock Lighthouse. Cameron is the principal keeper of the lighthouse and he has been alone on the island so long that he is eagerly awaiting the boat that is bringing his new assistant. When Simon arrives, the two men quickly fall into a routine, which is broken when Simon rescues a young woman who has washed up on the rocks.

When the woman regains consciousness, she has no memory of who she is or where she came from. The two men feed and clothe her and gradually she comes out of her apathetic state and takes notice of the world around her. She hears strange noises and constantly sees a young mulatto girl running around the island. Cameron insists she is imagining things and he keeps on telling her that until she is convinced that there is something evil on the island, something that Cameron is hiding from himself and her.

Readers gradually get the feeling that there is something not quite right about the people who are living on Jacob's Rock. The shipwrecked woman comes to believe that the Principal Keeper does not want her to leave but she doesn't know why. There is a mystery about him that she intends to solve but there are other forces at work on the island that intend to have their way and there is nothing the amnesiac can do to stop them. Thus the audience receives an exciting gothic-like paranormal thriller that entertains from the moment the woman arrives on the rock.

Harriet Klausner

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A HAUNTING AND ATMOSPHERIC GHOST STORY..., January 24, 2005

By	Lawyeraau (Balmoral Castle) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)

This is an intriguing and spooky, old fashioned ghost story, set in nineteenth century Scotland in a lighthouse on a remote island. At the lighthouse lives Cameron, the Principal Keeper of the Lighthouse, as well as Simon, his new assistant.

Life is very structured and routine on the island. Cameron and Simon work side by side in tandem, as they maintain the lighthouse and keep its nightly beacon of light burning brightly. They life a simple though apparently solitary life. Yet, at the opposite end of the island, a young golden girl sits in a trance by a crypt.

One day, Simon finds a woman with long dark hair and large gray eyes submerged beneath a bed of seaweed. This woman has no memory of who she is or from where she came. They arbitrarily name her Lucia after a ship that once wrecked itself on the rocks off shore. From the moment she is found, however, nothing is ever the same on that island.

Not even the arrival on the island of Charlotte, Cameron's no nonsense sister, can offset the growing sense of dread and wonder that oppressively seems to permeate the island. A sense of evil and of things being not quite right lays like a miasma over all.

This is an atmospheric and evocative novella that will keep the reader turning its pages. Those readers who like ghost stories will have an appreciation for this book.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Two Pruned Thumbs Up, December 20, 2003

By	Laurel825 "laurel825" - See all my reviews

This story washed ashore to me and I coveted it like a new, old shell. Listen closely to where it's been and what it has to say, distant or whispering sailor's gibberish in your ear.

Set on an island off the coast of Scotland, characters that bob the white caps of this tale are Cameron, a middle-aged bachelor devouting his life to caring for the lighthouse and the safe passage of those at sea. Simon, the new assistant caretaker, finds Lucia in the water after a storm and brings her ashore. Charlotte arrives later. The sister of Cameron, she's there to care for the men and to be a stable witness, should one of them die in their work.

Lucia is a fairly sensible confused person and, I'd venture, the least wooden of the players in this work. That irony comes home to roost on the ledges of the lighthouse later on. When a crumbling crypt is the homiest joint on the island, don't expect a clambake anytime soon.

Holes in the raft: Cameron's complete walking of the mental health plank, seemingly overnight. Simon's face never really came to me, despite description, which seemed odd considering his "animist" talent. The female form on the cover fits Charlotte's physical description, not Lucia.

I read this book in the cold of the season and can't help but to wonder what kind of beach read it would make come sweat of Summer? Cold tequila against hot sand and the storm that contrast creates in the soul. --Laurel825