The Lamplighters

by Emma Stonex (Picador, £14.99)

Oh, what a beautiful and elegant book this is! Told in dual timescales, it starts in 1972 with the disappearance of three keepers from a Cornish lighthouse. The other time-frame is 1992, and follows the men’s wives and girlfriends as a journalist tries to find out what happened to their partners. Part mystery, part love story, this is a highly accomplished debut. 4 March