This is a terrific dual timeline mystery set on a small, lonely island in Bass Strait, between Tasmania and Victoria.

In 1882 Leo Webster is the Lighthouse keeper on Benevolence Island. His 25 year old daughter Laura helps him keep the lighthouse lamp burning and is more help to him than his useless assistant Rorie. Ten years before Laura’s mother died during an attempt to rescue survivors of a shipwreck when Leo was a lighthouse keeper in Scotland. He and Laura moved to Australia to help forget the tragedy but found that lighthouse keeping was the only job he was able to get. Now Leo and Laura once again find themselves watching a ship flounder on the rocks near the island during a raging storm. Some survivors do make it to shore, but two of them are hiding a terrible secret that will put all their lives at risk.

In 2020 a group of volunteers from Island Heritage has arrived on Benevolence for two weeks to carry out some restoration work on the old cottages around the lighthouse to make them safe for summer visitors. Nina Robinson is the project manager and is determined to make sure the project is successfully carried out as her future with Island Heritage depends on it.

Nina is confident all should go well with her old friend ex-soldier Paul along as cook and competent construction manager Brian Mason leading the volunteers. Also on the island is Nina’s ex boyfriend Jude Rawlins, a writer and presenter of travel documentaries, someone she hasn’t seen since she broke up with him ten years ago on the traumatic night that changed her life. When small acts of sabotage start to occur within the group, Nina realises that a stranger may be on the island. But why he is there and what he wants with them is a mystery to her.

I loved the island setting for this mystery. The author captures its remoteness, beauty and ruggedness perfectly. Both groups of people in the two lines are cut off from help from the mainland and must fend for themselves dealing with threats from some ruthless characters. Laura is a wonderful character, capable and brave and a woman who knows what she wants in life while Nina is stronger than she thinks, as long as she can learn to put her past trauma behind her. I enjoyed the historical aspect more than the present day (the coincidences seemed somewhat implausible) but enjoyed the way both tales came together.

with thanks to Harlequin Australia via Netgalley for a copy to read2022 australian-author historical ...more63 s Phrynne3,488 2,370

Another dual time line book, this one set on Benevolence Island in the Bass Straight. A beautiful setting, some interesting characters and some mysterious incidents make this a very readable book.

The story in 1882 tells of the lives of Laura Webster and her father who were the keepers of the lighthouse. They led a very solitary life on the island with long periods between visits from the supply ship. A bad storm causes a boat to founder on the rocks and they manage to save a few people who are not all who they claim to be.

In 2020 Nina leads a team of people to the island with the aim of getting it prepared for tourists to visit. Again things turn out unexpectedly and the isolated island becomes dangerous. These sections were okay but Nina was not as interesting as Laura and I ended up rushing a bit to get back to 1882.

There is always a danger with dual timelines that one will be more interesting than the other and for me that definitely happened in this case. I think I would have preferred that the author had written a straight forward story set in just the historical timeline. Nevertheless this is still a book that is well worth reading.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book3500-202260 s Angela494 165

The Keepers of the Lighthouse by Kaye Dobbie

Synopsis /

1882

Laura Webster and her father are the stalwart keepers of Benevolence Island Lighthouse, a desolate place stranded in the turbulent Bass Strait. When a raging storm wrecks a schooner just offshore, the few survivors take shelter with the Websters, awaiting rescue from the mainland. But some of the passengers have secrets that lead to dreadful consequences, the ripples of which echo far into the future.

2020

Nina and her team of volunteers arrive on Benevolence to work on repairs, with plans to open up the island to tourists. Also on the expedition, for reason of his own, is Jude Rawlins, a man Nina once loved. A man who once destroyed her.

But the idyllic location soon turns into a nightmare as random acts of sabotage leave them with no communication to the mainland and the sense of someone on the island who shouldn't be there.

The fingers of those secrets from the passengers lost long ago are reaching into the present, and Nina will never be the same again.

My Thoughts /

You know it’s going to be a good book when you can’t bear to put it down. A deeply engrossing historical story, with an irresistibly compelling contemporary thriller storyline.

I absolutely loved the setting of Kaye Dobbie’s latest book, The Keepers of the Lighthouse.

I don’t think I’ve done one of these in a while, so……

LET’S LEARN THINGS:

Lighthouses. Evolving from very humble beginnings, such as basic primitive flames to the towers and flashing lights we have today, lighthouses have come a very long way.

Their historic beginnings stretch right back to Egypt, where one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World was in fact a lighthouse. The first lighthouse in recorded history was Egypt’s Pharos of Alexandria. Built around 280 BC, the source of light was a huge open fire at its summit. As well as being the world’s first, it was also the tallest one ever built, standing a colossal 450 feet high.

In Medieval times, the lighting used was mainly burning wood, coal or torches out in the open. A little later oil lamps and candles were introduced.

With the onset of the ‘modern’ era, improvements in both the structure of the lighthouse as well as its lighting equipment began. This time-period saw the first construction of towers which were fully exposed to the open sea. While masonry and brick were the most widely used materials for construction; concrete and steel were also well suited for building and lent itself to more aesthetically pleasing designs.

Daymarks and Nightmarks make every lighthouse unique. The daymark is the paint colour and pattern on a lighthouse. The nightmark is a distinctive light pattern that is fixed and flashes - or rotates and flashes. Each distinctive daymark and nightmark can be seen from the sea and are used by sailors so they know where their ships are located along the coast.

TO THE STORY:

Free up your ‘to-do-list’, you’ll want plenty of uninterrupted reading time for this one.

A remote island lighthouse in the Bass Strait provides the setting for this dual timeline story, set in 1882 and 2020. In 1882 Laura Webster is living a rather unconventional life for a young woman. She lives with her father, stepmother, and half-brother on Benevolence Island, where Laura’s father Leo mans and maintains the lighthouse. Ever since Laura can remember, she has loved being her father’s assistant. One evening, when a violent storm leads to a boat becoming shipwrecked on the nearby coral reef and breaking apart, Laura and Leo help rescue the survivors.

In 2020 the lighthouse is now no longer manned, and Benevolence Island is treated largely as a wildlife reserve. Nina Robinson and a small group of volunteers arrive on the Island to undertake restoration work on some of the old lighthouse cottages. This work will make it possible for the area to function effectively as a place for tourism and wildlife conservation. It’s critical this job goes smoothly. Workwise, Nina has made a few errors of judgment lately, so there is a lot riding on the outcome of this job. The are dangerous secrets which lay buried in this Island’s history, which find their way bubbling to the surface in this modern timeline.

I don’t want to give too much away, but I can tell you that both timelines are equally interesting, which was a refreshing anomaly for this reader. In both time periods, the characters are endearing and compassionate and I became totally absorbed in the action within each. Although it took a little time for the link between the two to become obvious (or maybe that was just me!) that connection once revealed was brilliantly written and well worth the wait.
5-stars australian-author australian-history ...more48 s Lisa848

WOWZA!!!
This was my first read by Kaye Dobbie & won’t be my last this was very atmospheric, vivid, heart breaking I loved
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