AustLit
Latest Issues
AbstractHistoryArchive Description
'Evelyn is a clever orphan at the Fountainbridge Institute for Destitute Girls. Enchanted by a cheerful lamplighter who fires the streetlamp outside her window each evening, she mesmerizes the other girls with flights of fancy. In a time before Freudian awareness of sexuality and the subconscious mind, such tales are forbidden by the institute's governor, who warns Evelyn to cease her nocturnal storytelling.
'Evelyn defies him - and is cast out of the orphanage and sacrificed to a shadowy figure claiming to be her long-lost father. Who is this man, and why does he lock Evelyn away in a hunting lodge?
'Years later, the mutilated body of a professor of ecclesiastical law turns up on one of Edinburgh's finest streets; the grave of a famous colonel is ravaged; a shady entrepreneur is slaughtered while dashing for a train; and a retired lighthouse keeper is ripped to shreds while walking his dog -- all this after Evelyn, now a young woman, has reappeared in the city.
'What connects the victims? And what of Evelyn, anguished and appealing, who repeatedly claims to have dreamed the murders in great detail - each time blaming a mysterious "lamplighter"?
'Leading the official investigation is Carus Groves, a conceited yet effective police inspector desperate to cap his unremarkable career with a sensational case. Heading up the unofficial investigation is a disillusioned professor of logic and metaphysics, Thomas McKnight, and his assistant, Joseph Canavan, a strapping young gravedigger. Using reason, intuition, philosophy, and luck, these men race to solve the murders and unveil the source of Evelyn's torment, and in so doing penetrate the very gates of Hell.'
Book Jacket. Scribner, 2003. (Libraries Australia record).
Notes
-
-
Epigraph: There is a dreadful Hell/ And everlasting pains;/ There sinners must with devils dwell/ In darkness, fire and chains. - Isaac Watts Divine Songs for Children
-
Epigraph: If God has thought proper to paint "thief", "robber", or "murderer" on certain brows, it isn't for nothing; nay it is for something - that the like of me should read the marks, and try to save the good and virtuous.' - James McLevy Edinburgh police detective, 1861
-
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Other Formats
- Also sound recording.
Works about this Work
-
[Review] The Lamplighter
2004
single work
review
— Appears in: Aurealis : Australian Fantasy and Science Fiction , no. 33/34/35 2004; (p. 252-253)
— Review of The Lamplighter 2003 single work novel -
Jock the Ripper
2003
single work
review
— Appears in: The Bulletin , 13 May vol. 121 no. 6372 2003; (p. 84)
— Review of The Lamplighter 2003 single work novel -
Shadowy Evil in the Slums
2003
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 18-20 April 2003; (p. 18)
— Review of The Lamplighter 2003 single work novel -
Victorian Gothic
2003
single work
review
— Appears in: The West Australian , 5 April 2003; (p. 14)
— Review of The Lamplighter 2003 single work novel -
Pastiche, Not a Homage
2003
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , April no. 250 2003; (p. 38)
— Review of The Lamplighter 2003 single work novel
-
Fantasy by Gaslight in Edinburgh
2003
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 1-2 March 2003; (p. 10-11)
— Review of The Lamplighter 2003 single work novel -
Light Shines on the Devil of a Mystery
2003
single work
review
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 15 March 2003; (p. 13)
— Review of The Lamplighter 2003 single work novel -
Mean Streets of Edinburgh
2003
single work
review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 22 March 2003; (p. 8a)
— Review of The Lamplighter 2003 single work novel -
Murder in the City of Voices
2003
single work
review
— Appears in: The Age , 29 March 2003; (p. 5)
— Review of The Lamplighter 2003 single work novel -
Pastiche, Not a Homage
2003
single work
review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , April no. 250 2003; (p. 38)
— Review of The Lamplighter 2003 single work novel
Awards
- 2003 shortlisted Aurealis Awards for Excellence in Australian Speculative Fiction — Horror Division — Novel
- 2003 honourable mention Aurealis Awards for Excellence in Australian Speculative Fiction — Fantasy Division — Novel
-
Edinburgh,
cScotland,ccUnited Kingdom (UK),cWestern Europe, Europe,
- ca. 1860s
- 1886