Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #187999 in Books
• Published on: 2006-08-25
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 296 pages

The Observer
More absorbing than most novels

Craig Brown, Today
It is one of the most compelling books I have ever read.

Anthony Storr, The Sunday Times
A splendid book which has enriched my understanding of human nature.

Customer Reviews

destined to be one of your lighthouse books
Why this book has 'Celtic Interest' written beside it is a mystery - it virtually defines a human interest book. It's very rare for people to own just one Tony Parker book - after discovering him you usually want to track down his books in 2nd hand bookshops and collect them one by one. This one, however, is his best - countless vivid tales of human behaviour, all of them quietly moving. It's not only his ability to get people talking honestly to him which is notable, but also his tendency to efface himself afterwards. So many things in the book strike a chord - the wife for whom the lifehouse service has become a sort of monster, the jokes of the lighthouse keepers, the meals they eat, the loneliness at night, the descriptions of the power of the sea, the keeper who spends his time in the lighthouse totally sober, and his leave on shore on a four-week headlong bender. The book is about everything but, most ironically of all, it's one of the only books I've read which is such a celebration of marriage. Tony Parker said it was probably the favourite of his books, and the one had marked him most. You can see why: it haunts you for a long time afterwards, and will make you lament the passing of the British light-house service. A gem of a book, and an experience all readers should have at some point. Before reading other Tony Parker books - like The Twisting Lane.

A first-rate read.
Tony Parker was not only a marvellous writer. As is quite obvious from this book, he was also a remarkable human being: perceptive, sympathetic, tenacious and warm. All these qualities are apparent in LIGHTHOUSE which is the study of a vanished world. British off-shore lighthouses are no longer manned by teams of keepers. Instead, they are electronically controlled from the shore. Parker writes about the people who used to do this work manually in lonely, dangerous and sometimes frightening conditions. He tells the stories of te keepers and their families - their hopes and fears, their motives for doing the work they did, their feelings about the lighthouse service and the effect the work had on their relationships. He is especially good on the way separation shaped the lives of maried couples who were often parted for months at a time while husbands tended their lights and wives stayed on shore.

This is both a fascinating sociological sudy and a gripping human story. I can't recommend it too highly. Ditto another book by Tony Parker, THE PEOPLE OF PROVIDENCE, also published by Eland Books.

Understanding a previous way of life
I have read this book 6 or 7 times now in the time I have owned it, and never tire of it; something new appears on each reading. Tony Parker takes the reader through the experiences of keepers and their families on Land lighthouses, Rock lighthouses and ultimately the most isolated Tower lights. He is brilliant in getting participants to talk and describe their lives and feelings, then editing these interviews into a beautifully composed book. Each chapter brings new insights into the men who supervised these lights and their psyche. The haunting passages in the final section on Tower lights are a powerful journey into the lives and minds of keepers, and will stand as a tribute and historical evidence of this now defunct lifestyle