Scottish book of the week

In the 19th Century, the Stevenson family of engineers pioneered the construction of architecturally elegant lighthouses across the coast of Scotland.

Here, the reader is taken on a tour around the Orkney and Shetland Islands as Lynn explores how the Northern Lighthouse Board Engineer (almost invariably a Stevenson) would cope with having to spend weeks aboard a small lighthouse vessel, travelling around the rugged coastline of Scotland on dangerous tours of inspection and interacting with local people in some of the remotest regions of Europe.

Lynn is a professional engineer and better known as a technical author but he provides a deeply human account of the Stevensons as family members as well as engineers. Through his thorough research, he also offers a detailed historical analysis of how the family’s professional activities sat with the social and economic conditions in Scotland at the time.

While the private lives of the family have remained little known, even among lighthouse enthusiasts, Lynn manages to piece together enough information from such a wide variety of sources that we are left with a lasting impression of each of the Stevensons’ unique and contrasting personalities.

This book is a must-have for all lighthouse enthusiasts, lovers of the Scottish islands, those interested in maritime history and anyone who feels they would enjoy a compelling story about the 19th Century engineers who did so much to shape our modern world. 7/10

Scottish Lighthouse Pioneers: Travels with the Stevensons in Orkney and Shetland Paul A. Lynn