Light by Margaret Elphinstone

The sort of fast-paced narrative which builds to a tantalizing denouement that most authors would envy

Book Review by CC Mapletoft | 08 Oct 2007
Book title: Light
Author: Margaret Elphinstone

Margaret Elphinstone, author of many novels and poems, has produced this yarn about Robert Stevenson and his modernization of lighthouses, using a sparkling cast of characters and a mythic setting. Light centres on the Ellan Bride lighthouse off the Isle of Man and its socially challenging residents, consisting of two husbandless sisters-in-law with three children between them. The arrival of surveyors to potentially modernize the lighthouse throws the entire family into conflict. Much tension ensues, in the sort of fast-paced narrative which builds to a tantalizing denouement that most authors would envy. The fairytale lighthouse itself becomes a focal point for Ossian-esque imagery that transports the reader into a rarely recognized time frame. One complaint would be that despite the often rapid plot, there are occasional instances whereby the novel drags, relying on heavy, often over-emphasized description rather than action. However, this is more than redeemed by the fact that Elphinstone adequately brings to life a vision of what could potentially be uninteresting subject material for some. What seems at first rather obscure quickly establishes itself as a riveting and exuberant read. [CC Mapletoft].

Out Now. Published by Canongate. Cover Price £8.99