The Lighthouse: A Novel

A solitary man, unaccustomed to "human companionship," even to the point of not having any family members or close friends, lives full time on a tiny island as a lighthouse keeper. The nearest town is only accessible by wading through water, or by boat during high tide. To him, being alone is not lonesome, and it is preferable to being surrounded by others. Occasionally tourists visit his island and he has to grit his teeth and bear it... or he engages in casual conversation with others on the rare times that he visits the mainland, always glad to return home to the sound of bird calls, the rush of the ocean waves, and human silence. Thus, he believes that this is what he will always need and does not look for anything further. Yet... the Universe (God) is always listening and will guide him directly to those whom he is supposed to meet. Michael O'Brien is an incredible writer, and here he vividly brings this picture of small-town Nova Scotia to life. I resided for many years there in the past, before the days of social media and smartphones, "cancel culture," and "wokeness," and his depiction is pretty much spot-on for that bygone time period. The only thing that surprised me was the inclusion of the bird species Puffins in this narration, because I've always attributed them to the province of Newfoundland, which is where I remember seeing Puffin colonies. Perhaps despite my nearly two decades in Nova Scotia, I simply had not been aware that they colonize parts of that province too. Update: thanks to the search engines of the internet I've now been informed that Puffins do stop on small islands around Nova Scotia and that they can be seen by going on Bird Tours, if any tourists are interested.