The Last Lighthouse Keeper

Cover Type: Softcover
Book Condition: Very Good
Jacket Condition: None Issued
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Publisher Place: Sydney
Publisher Year: 2020
Edition: First Edition

Description: 339 pages. Book is in Very good condition throughout.

Publishers Description: A beautiful memoir from John Cook, one of Tasmanias last kerosene lighthouse keepers. A story about madness and wilderness, shining a light onto the vicissitudes of love and nature.John Cooks ripping life story exposes Tasmanias old kero-fuelled lighthouses: relentless physically and emotionally demanding labour, done under the often cruel vagaries of nature. Noble work that can ultimately redeem a lost soul. Or break them. - Matthew EvansI loved the life of the island, because I knew my body was more alive than it was on the mainland. People asked how we stood the isolation and boredom, but in some ways, it was more stimulating to have your senses turned up.In Tasmania, John Cook is known as The Keeper of the Flame. As one of Australias longest-serving lighthouse keepers, John spent 26 years tending Tasmanias well-known kerosene lights at Tasman Island, Maatsuyker Island and Bruny Island.From sleepless nights keeping the lights alive, battling the wind and sea as they ripped at gutters and flooded stores, raising a joey, tending sheep and keeping ducks and chickens, the life of a keeper was one of unexpected joy and heartbreak. But for John, nothing was more heartbreaking than the introduction of electric lights, and the lighthouses that were left empty forever.Evocatively told, The Last Lighthouse Keeper is a love story between a man and a dying way of life, as well as a celebration of wilderness and solitude.

ISBN: 9781760875381