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A beautiful memoir from John Cook, one of Tasmania's last kerosene lighthouse keepers. A story about madness and wilderness, shining a light onto the vicissitudes of love and nature. In Tasmania, John Cook is known as: 'The Keeper of the Flame'. John's renowned as one of the last of the "kerosene keepers": he spent a good part of his 26-year career in Tasmanian lighthouses tending kerosene, not electrical, lamps. He joined the lighthouse service in 1969, after a spell in the merchant marine. Far from reviling work on isolated islands such as Tasman and Maatsuyker, Australia's southernmost lighthouse, he discovered that he loved the solitude and delighted in the sense of purpose that light ke...
Once there was a lighthouse keeper called Mr Grinling... Mr Grinling LOVES his food, but - oh no! - he's not the only one who likes a snack and the local seagulls have started stealing Mrs Grinling's tasty treats...! Can Mr and Mrs Grinling come up with a cunning plan to keep those pesky seagulls away?
Once there was a lighthouse keeper called Mr. Grinling. At night time he lived in a small white cottage perched high on the cliffs, and in the daytime he rowed out to his lighthouse to clean and polish the light. When Mr Grinling locks himself out of the lighthouse, he tries everything to get back inside! Available for the first time as an e-book.
Once there was a lighthouse keeper called Mr. Grinling. At night time he lived in a small white cottage perched high on the cliffs, and in the daytime he rowed out to his lighthouse to clean and polish the light... When Hamish, the lighthouse keeper's cat, hears that Mr and Mrs Grinling are going to put him on a diet, he decides to find somewhere else to live. Soon, though, Hamish realises that there's no place like home. The first Lighthouse Keeper story, THE LIGHTHOUSE KEEPER'S LUNCH, published over thirty years ago. It is now a modern picture book classic, and his adventures have been loved by children ever since.
On 26 December 1900, the vessel Hesperus arrived at Eilean Mor in the remote Outer Hebrides with a relief lighthouseman and fresh provisions. The lighthouse had been in operation for a year, but it had been noted that no light had been seen from Eilean Mor for several days. The relief keeper, Joseph Moore, found the lighthouse to be completely deserted, and a subsequent search of the island failed to reveal any sign of what had happened to the three keepers. The last entry in the logbook had been made on 15 December and contained a number of strange and distressing clues as to the mental states of the men. One was reported to have been crying, while another had become 'very quiet'. When it was revealed that the men's oilskin coats were missing and the clock in the lighthouse had stopped, theories surrounding the keepers' fates inevitably proliferated. These included a giant wave washing them away, murder or suicide. Others favoured more esoteric explanations – Eilean Mor was believed to have mystical properties. In The Lighthouse, Keith McCloskey explores this mysterious and chilling story in depth for the first time and reveals a shocking conclusion.
Mr Grinling likes to look for mermaids on his days off. but the golden- haired creature he spots on a rock isn't quite what he expected.
‘Compelling... I can’t recommend this one highly enough.’ Gill Paul, bestselling author of The Secret Wife‘Exquisite... a clear head and shoulders above the rest’ Sunday Independent
“Transported me effortlessly…Haunting, harrowing and heartbreaking, this is a novel that will stay with you.” --Ashley Audrain, New York Times bestselling author of The Push “A ghost story and fantastically gripping psychological investigation rolled into one. It is also a pitch-perfect piece of writing. . . . As with Shirley Jackson’s work or Sarah Waters’s masterpiece Affinity, in Stonex’s hands the unspoken, unexamined, unseen world we can call the supernatural, a world fed by repression and lies, becomes terrifyingly tangible.” --The Guardian (London) Inspired by a haunting true story, a gorgeous and atmospheric novel about the mysterious disappearance of three lighthouse...
Will Elliott is out of a job. The lighthouse he's been manning on Prince Albert Rock, off the wild Cornish coast, is about to become automated. So Will decides to fulfil his lifelong ambition - to sail round the coastline of Britain. Determined to continue his solitary existence, Will begins his preparations for his epic voyage. But before he has time to so much as paint his hull, he meets Amy Finn - a beautiful artist and fellow loner. And as if that isn't distraction enough, suddenly his sleepy Cornish village is rocked by the biggest scandal to hit Cornwall since Guenevere ran off with Launcelot. It seems as if Will will never get away, and even if he does will his journey be solo or is there hope that he and Amy could be embarking on a two-man voyage of discovery?
When Peter Hill, a student at Dundee College of Art, answered an advert in The Scotsman seeking lighthouse keepers, little did he imagine that within a month he would be living with three men he didn't know in a lighthouse on Pladda, a small remote island off the west coast of Scotland. Hill was nineteen, it was 1973 and, with his head fed by Vietnam, Zappa, Kerouac, Vonnegut, Watergate and Coronation Street, he spent six months on various lighthouses, "keeping" with all manner of unusual and fascinating people. Within thirty years this way of life was to have disappeared entirely. The resulting book is a charming and beautifully written memoir that is not only a heartfelt lament for Hill's own youth and innocence but also for a simpler and more honest age.