Light

by Margaret Elphinstone

May, 1831, and on a tiny island off the Isle of Man a lighthouse provides a harsh living for an unusual family. Lucy and Diya, husbandless and with three children between them, watch over the ancient light on Ellan Bride. Meanwhile the Scottish engineer, Robert Stevenson, is modernising the nation's lighthouses, and Ellan Bride and the future of the family, are under threat. When two surveyors arrive to assess the light, tension escalates to danger point.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, 19th Century, Historical

432 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Margaret Elphinstone is a Scottish novelist. She studied at Queen's College in London and Durham University, where she graduated in English Language and Literature. She was until recently, Professor of Writing in the Department of English Studies at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, now retired. Her academic research areas are Scottish writers and the literature of Scotland's offshore islands.

Elphinstone published her first futuristic novel in 1987. Her first historical novel, The Sea Road was published in 2000 and won won a Scottish Arts Council Spring Book Award. She is also the author of Lost People (Wild Game Publications, 2024) The Gathering Night (Canongate Books, 2009), Gato (Sandstone Press, 2007), Light (Canongate Books, 2006), Voyagers (Canongate Books, 2003), Hy Brasil (Canongate Books, 2002), Islanders (Polygon, 1994), Apple from a Tree (Women's Press, 1990), A Sparrow's Flight (Polygon, 1989), and The Incomer (Women's Press, 1987).

She did extensive study tours in Iceland, Greenland, Labrador and the United States. She lived for eight years in the Shetland Islands and is the mother of two children.

Reviews

[Kathleen Hawk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another book in my belated travels through history and geography. A lighthouse on a remote island, cared for by generations of an impoverished family about to be evicted, set in late Victorian England. Elphinstone's writing -- tone and language -- is precisely evocative of the time and place, but so psychologically astute and sensible of the class and race issues that it feels like watching through a strong telescope from another time, our time. It's not a page-turner, but a more an observant and leisurely ramble through a few weeks when strangers, the surveyors who will map the island in preparation for the building of a new lighthouse, intrude on the tightly circumscribed, disciplined, but loving life of this family of women and their children. I loved the characters and the way their relationships evolved. But the great strength of this book is in the unfolding of the story. It is a snapshot of lives in great transition. leaving a tiny but deeply known place for a future in another world.

[Tawny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Favorite line: "For grown-ups all things were possible, though often they didn't seem to bother" (53).

[Denise · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick moving story of the moment in time when a remote, rugged landscape, tied to a family for generations, is to change hands due to new technology arriving for the lighthouse. It was interesting to read how each family member acknowledged their shared ties to their island home, but each privately explored their own anxious excitement for what change might bring.
The taste of change arrives with the surveyors as they measure for the new construction. With all characters living in close quarters due to necessity, each is impacted as they try to relate to each other and the changing times.
I enjoyed how the author’s phonetic spelling of conversations had me reading with a Scottish accent and with a thicker accent for some characters over others.

[Naomi]

I actually picked this book off the library shelves because it was a paperback and I needed something light weight to take on a trip. Besides, who can resist a title called simply "Light"? It is a deeply satisfying read.

The reviewers call Elphinstone a "traditional" writer. I guess that means that the novel progresses in one direction in time, the characters are fully realized, the plot develops slowly with plenty of sensual detail, and the language is skillful and beautiful. The wild bit of island off the coast of the Isle of Mann is itself a central character with all of its rugged wind-beaten beauty. I loved reading about the puffin burrows, the skerries, the tough little wild flowers, the sea and the ancient chapel as much as I did following the characters and their thoughts.

[Camille Siddartha · Rating 1 out of 5]

The amount of time I fell asleep reading this book....I would have made a terrible light house keeper...

lol

[Jack Deighton · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is May 1831. The lighthouse on Ellan Bride, a small island south of the Isle of Man, was once owned and run by the Duke of Atholl but its care has recently passed into that of the Scottish based Commissioners of Northern Lights. The Ellan Bride light is obsolescent and a team to survey the island for the purpose of replacing it is about to arrive. For the past five years since the death of Jim Geddes, his unmarried sister Lucy has been lightkeeper, assisted by Jim’s widow Diya and the three children they have between them. Diya is of Indian extraction, brought to the Isle of Man by her father, an official of the East India Company, but reduced in circumstances after both he and his mother had died. The mechanics of keeping the light going, lighting the lantern, the daily cleaning of the lenses and windows, the care the Geddeses take, are revealed in detail as are the exigencies of everyday life in an isolated location. The news of the survey and the likelihood of their imminent removal from their living - the idea of a female lightkeeper is unlikely to recommend itself to the Commissioners - has perturbed the Geddeses, whose ancestral responsibility the light has been for generations.

The main surveyor is Archie Buchanan, who has an invitation to join Captain Fitzroy on HMS Beagle , and therefore the promise of adventure, in his pocket but his surveying commission to fulfil in the meantime. He is accompanied by Benjamin Groat who does most of the groundwork while Buchanan records notes, an activity for which the children dub him the Writing Man.The third member of the party, Drew Scott, got himself in bother and put in jail in Castletown on the Isle so they are a man short, allowing Lucy’s son Billy the chance of paid employment (twopence a day; a man’s wage even though he is only ten years old) for the first time. This puts a crack into the relationship between the Geddes children who had formed a pact to frustrate the surveyors if possible.

We see events from many viewpoints - all the above save Diya’s younger daughter Mally, who mainly because of her youth is the only one not to impact on the unfolding story - and what plot there is is packed into the three-day spell for which the surveyors are on the island but through their reminiscences and thoughts the past histories of all the characters are also unfolded. Elphinstone evokes her scenes well, the transition from sail to steam, the evolution of lighthouse keeping, the remoteness of the island - Ireland, England and even the Mull of Galloway are the far lands, sometimes lost in the mists - Diya’s awareness that position once lost cannot be regained, the class-consciousness of all the adults, the breakthrough to a hitherto unlikely communication when Buchanan reveales a particular enthusiasm. The tale may be small scale - the impact of the strangers on the Geddes family dynamics and of them on the members of the survey party - but universal human drives, fear, love, hope, compassion, are all conjured up. Each of the characters is an individual, each has a different way of expressing her- or himself.

Elphinstone again displays the Scottish novelist’s flair for evoking landscape - and necessarily in this case seascape. Added to this are descriptions of the island’s flowers, the local wildlife, particularly the seals and seabirds, the never-ending shifts of the tides and the passing shipping near or far. Indeed, the island is so well brought to mind that it is almost a character in its own right and its topography as revealed to Buchanan through his survey and laid down to Billy via the map he has drawn is crucial to a sub-plot.

My only caveats are that one of the relationships which evolve in the novel perhaps develops too quickly and that maybe on occasion the narrative lingers a little too long on the surroundings. But that last is an indicator of how involved Elphinstone makes the reader in the characters’ interactions, how eager to know what happens to them.

[Kathy Piselli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Because I loved her novel Voyageurs, I picked up Light. It takes place on a tiny rock in the Irish Sea in the mid-19th century, where two women and three young, imaginative children tend the lighthouse after the death of the lightkeeper. Two men from the mainland working for the light's new owner are coming to survey for a modern light, and the women know they are about to lose their livelihood and their home. Elphinstone peels away layers to reveal the secrets of these seven characters. With no Hollywood-style action she creates a page-turner as the characters confront their old beliefs and form new ones. The writing is like a good pound cake, rich but made of simple ingredients. Along the way, Elphinstone introduces other strange tales: the technology of lighthouses that, without electricity, could project light 10 miles out to sea; ancient hermit saints' dwellings; the storm-petrels, birds that walk on water.

[Thebruce1314 · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Globe and Mail said of this book, “Slow and beautiful.” I agree with the first part.
The set-up had so much potential: two women and three children left to run a lighthouse on an a lonely island. The reasons they were there, in nineteenth-century society, even made sense. But I kept waiting for something to happen and - I don’t think I’m giving away any spoilers here - nothing ever did! Two stars for setting and atmosphere. It was a struggle to get through.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quotable:

What was gone, was gone forever; only faint shadows might fall from the past into the present, and even those were merely an illusion.

Diya had only been fifteen, after all: a mere child, and one, moreover, who read far too many novels from the Circulating Library.

[Lisa Reader · Rating 1 out of 5]

It took 200 pages before I became mildly interested in the story. It was all down hill from there. I personally did not find the story engaging nor the characters very stimulating. Sorry Margaret. I loved Voyageurs, which prompted me to read Light.

[Jan Farndale · Rating 5 out of 5]

An interesting book, simple in style but with hidden depths. My only complaint is that it ended. I would like to know what happened to the characters I came to feel I knew.

[Kimberlee Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had loved her Voyageurs so much, I was looking forward to reading another one of her books. I will admit that it took a little bit to get into this one, for some reason, but i'm glad I stuck to it. I ended up really enjoying the book to the end, even wishing for more chapters to see what would happen to these people next... Elphinstone's ability to bring characters and history to life is rare and wonderful.

[Shannon Reed]

I picked this up because I was going on a lighthouse challenge weekend with my dad and I thought it'd make good car and hotel reading. As it turns out, navigating to lighthouses is tricky and exhausting, so I did not have time to read it. I'm getting it to it immediately post-trip. So far there's good and bad. Good: lots of interesting historical information. Strong women. Promise of dual romance. Romantic setting. Realistic portrayal of children. Bad: alternativing narratives (I hate this - always give me whiplash and I blame Melville and Steinbeck!), penchant for the extreme and shaky Scottish dialect (reminds me of Faulkner - not a good thing). I'll let you know final call.

[Elaine Cougler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Light by Margaret Elphinstone was one of those Chapters' bargain shelf finds and a good one at that. The author portrays a family of lighthouse keepers who are now the third generation to carry on the tradition. Elphinstone draws each one, as well as the visitors to the island, in exquisite detail. She takes the reader right inside the heads of adults and children alike. I enjoyed this totally new subject for a novel, especially as the author drew each character so carefully, only giving information when it was needed for the story to progress. Great control.

[Brandie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Happened to grab this at the library. It was a decent book, the characters were great, and the story was very good, one that sticks with you after you are done reading. However...for some reason, I had such problems getting into it. It took about half the book before I was really into the story, and even then if I set it down for very long, I had to make myself pick it back up. I'd say it would be good for a bookclub read, because it would definitely give you something to talk about.

[Katy M · Rating 3 out of 5]

The end leaves you hanging. i would have preferred a clean resolution, but that may have been the point, since the book is all about how life changes and you can't always know what's going to happen. I liked some of the characters, I didn't like others. The two 10 year olds seemed older to me, but I'm not sure if that's because I don't spend that much time with kids, or because kids matured faster in the 1830s, or because of their relative isolation.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Probably worth a read, slowly paced but unfolds nicely. A bit hard to get into, starts out with a lot of loose ends and random info that you must hold in mind until you can build a framework for it. However, it's one of those books where I feel that the back cover blurb was written by someone who didn't actually read the book. A synopsis of a synopsis perhaps?

[Kathleen McRae · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fun book to read. It was not a great read but enjoyable because of the setting and the time frame it was set in, the characters were interesting and although I though the ending tailed off and didnot provide enough information i did enjoy the read

[Katy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good. I just found it on a shelf in the library, read the back and brought it home. I wish the ending was more clear but other than that a great story.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed the strenght of characters. Learned about their dedication and isolation as lighthouse keepers in the Shetland Islands.

[Fiona Hurley · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story of an isolated family (two sisters-in-law and their three children) and what happens when the outside world intrudes. A strong sense of place and of characters shaped by where they live.

[Judy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderfully atmospheric book! I read it a couple of years ago and loved the characters and the story, so skillfully told.

[Robin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this a few years ago. My recollection (it's risky, remembering a book after time has past) is that the story and characters held my interest, and that the writing was lovely - like a painting.

[Jonna Higgins-Freese · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved Voyageurs but just couldn't get into this