The Lighthouse Stevensons by Bella Bathurst

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The Lighthouse Stevensons by Bella Bathurst

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Summary

Bella Bathurst's epic story of Robert Louis Stevenson's ancestors and the building of the Scottish coastal lighthouses against impossible odds.

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The Lighthouse Stevensons by Bella Bathurst

An exciting new edition of Bella Bathurst's epic story of Robert Louis Stevenson's ancestors and the building of the Scottish coastal lighthouses against impossible odds. 'Whenever I smell salt water, I know that I am not far from one of the works of my ancestors,' wrote Robert Louis Stevenson in 1880. 'When the lights come out at sundown along the shores of Scotland, I am proud to think they burn more brightly for the genius of my father!' Robert Louis Stevenson was the most famous of the Stevensons, but not by any means the most productive. The Lighthouse Stevensons, all four generations of them, built every lighthouse round Scotland, were responsible for a slew of inventions in both construction and optics, and achieved feats of engineering in conditions that would be forbidding even today. The same driven energy which Robert Louis Stevenson put into writing, his ancestors put into lighting the darkness of the seas. The Lighthouse Stevensons is a story of high endeavour, beautifully told; indeed, Bella Bathurst writes like a dream and this was one of the most celebrated works of historical biography in recent memory. As a unique history that evokes the exact feel of time and place, this book is quite exceptional. 'My own interest in the Lighthouse Stevensons is threefold. Firstly, from the writings of Robert Louis Stevenson, who turned his family's trade into the raw gold of all his best fiction. Secondly, from various trips around Scotland. The country's coast is a mass of storm-beaten rocks and treacherous headlands on which even the seagulls have trouble landing. It is impossible not to speculate what combination of courage and skill built the lighthouses around such an environment. And thirdly, because somewhere in there, unrecognised and unsung, is the most wonderful story!'
'Deeply accomplished.. this splendid book preserves the memory of great deeds performed in a heroic era' Frank McLynn, Sunday Times 'Bella Bathurst has built a lamp herself: it illuminates the work of a literary hero, a family business, a habit of mind and a Scottish period... from the summit of this first terrific book she looks to become one of the best biographers of her generation' Andrew O'Hagan, The Times 'An enthralling story, vivaciously recounted... These were epic and scarifying adventures, indicative of an age when the taming of nature was a philosophical given, its execution a religious passion' Alan Taylor, Observer 'A fine and scrupulous book... Robert Louis Stevenson would have relished the tale told here' Ian Bell, Scotsman 'This is a grand book doing for lighthouses what Dava Sobel's Longitude did for marine chronometers, and doing it, if comparisons are to be made, with considerably more panache' Nicholas Bagnall, Sunday Telegraph
Bella Bathurst is a freelance journalist whose portfolio includes work for the Observer, Telegraph, Sunday Telegraph, Independent on Sunday, Guardian, Scotsman and Scotland on Sunday.
SKU Unavailable
ISBN 13 9780006530763
ISBN 10 0006530761
Title The Lighthouse Stevensons
Author Bella Bathurst
Condition Unavailable
Binding Type Paperback
Publisher HarperCollins Publishers
Year published 2005-04-04
Number of pages 304
Prizes Winner of Somerset Maugham Award 2000, Short-listed for Guardian First Book Award 1999
Cover note Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
Note Unavailable