Book Review: Keepers of the light

Marguerite Poland's new novel, The Keeper, set in the Cape, tells the story of the lives of a small community of lighthouse keepers, and of the people who grow up around them.

The title describes not only the occupation of one of the central characters, Hannes Harker, but his personality. He keeps his stories to himself. But as Poland's novel unfolds, he learns to open up and share.

In the opening pages Hannes injures his foot. While being treated in hospital, he opens up to his nurse, Rika, who becomes absorbed and involved in his story, which in turn absorbs the reader.

The story centres on two couples: Hannes and his wife, Aletta, and Hannes's parents, Karel and Louisa. The attraction between Aletta and Hannes begins with a mutual understanding of what it means to have grown up around lighthouses. But later Hannes's attraction to lighthouses and Aletta's hatred for them slowly antagonise their relationship.

His relationship with his mother is key to Hannes's story. Louisa died when he was a child, but he never speaks of this, except to Rika. Those on the island claim to have seen Louisa's ghost and seem to know the story of her death in more detail than Hannes does. The story of his mother's death has been stolen from him, especially as the stories told on the island seem to evade or exaggerate the truth.

We acquire the sense that, through the act of storytelling, Hannes finds an understanding of his life and his difficult relationship with Aletta. The gaps in his knowledge about his mother's death are filled in.

What he doesn't say is as interesting as what he reveals , and the discrepancy between what he knows and what he doesn't know grips the reader. The ability to show her main character's lack of understanding about his own life reveals Poland's skilled control over her narrative, which is especially pronounced in her characterisation of the lighthouse.

The lighthouse is given human characteristics, but not ones we'd expect. It's described as ''so exacting a mistress". Instead of representing enlightenment, it is a symbol of darkness.

''One day, with the force of a gunshot, it will crush the places where the glass has cracked..."

Hannes will not speak about his mother's tragic death on the island, and Aletta is reluctant to reveal her past. But with Rika, Hannes becomes more generous with his own stories and experiences catharsis.

Poland exercises immense control over the plot, combining seemingly stray strands into a story that is rich and intriguing. She handles her characters with sympathy and generosity and provides beautifully luscious prose as she slowly uncovers Hannes's life.