Review: The Lighthouse At The Edge Of The World is your new queer fantasy obsession
The Lighthouse At The Edge Of The World (Pan Macmillan)
The Lighthouse At The Edge Of The World (Pan Macmillan)
Grief, love, sapphics and talking dogs – J. R. Dawson’s new book, The Lighthouse At The Edge Of The World, has it all and will leave you hooked.
If contemporary queer fantasy is a genre you love, The Lighthouse At The Edge Of The World is the latest book you need to add to your shelf. From the author of The First Bright Thing, J. R. Dawson, this stunning look at how grief and love often go hand-in-hand will bring you both joy and tears.
Set in Chicago, the story follows Nera and Charlie, two women from vastly different backgrounds and roles.
Nera works at The Station on the shores of Lake Michigan. Visible only to Nera, her father, the ferryman to the dead, the dead themselves and the dogs who guard souls, The Station serves as the final point for the dead before they cross beyond the veil, providing a peaceful and protective light in the form of a lighthouse. This is the only life that Nera has known, but the arrival of Charlie signals that something is changing.
Charlie is lost in a fog of grief following the violent death of her sister, not helped by the fact that she can suddenly see ghosts. After spending months searching for her sister’s spirit, Charlie follows a song she recognises and finds herself on the boat taking the dead beyond the veil.
A deal is struck between Nera and Charlie. Nera will help find what happened to Charlie’s sister, and Charlie will return to the station each night to play her sister’s piano that has appeared in the lobby, to help keep the lighthouse’s light glowing and ensure the terrifying Haunts who eat souls are kept at bay.
As the two women get to know each other, Charlie starts to see that you can live again after grief, and Nera realises that she’s never lived at all.
With beautiful writing, dual points of view, and a painfully real depiction of grief and enduring love, J. R. Dawson creates a stunning dreamlike world that is so much more than it seems. While tinged with sadness through much of the book, the story is really about hope and learning to live life to the fullest. It’s about finding yourself again after loss and learning what the world looks like when you say goodbye to people while still holding the love you feel for them close.
Every piece of description paints a detailed picture of the world and the characters, making you feel as if you know everyone you meet within the story. Plus, the talking dogs make everything even better and once again prove that we really don’t deserve dogs. The Lighthouse At The Edge Of The World is one of the most stunningly written and emotive books you’ll read this year.
The Lighthouse At The Edge Of The World is available from 29 July.
