Delphin’s unusual name was given to him by his mother, who was drunk when she registered his birth and misspelled “Dolphin”. In 1959, when Delphin was 10, his grandfather announced he was off to be a lighthouse keeper on Wolf Island, south of Greenland. Delphin went with him.
Now 73, Delphin lives alone in the yellow-and-black-striped lighthouse. Granda is long dead, and the only other island inhabitant, Yak Forsythe – on whom Delphin depended for monthly supply runs to the mainland – has disappeared, presumed drowned. “If the sea wants you, it will get you,” Delphin thinks.
Believing his days to be “faltering candles”, Delphin issues an ultimatum to the universe. Soon after, he discovers a woman cast up on the rocks. Venus has fled her home and her abusive husband in Gdansk. She goes into labour with nothing but Delphin and his 1962 army field manual for help, his cats sitting in a row, watching, their “front paws tucked in, like people waiting to be entertained”. Venus stays, believing the sea winds brought her and her new son to safety.
The third narrative strand belongs to Marcus Forsythe. A former inhabitant of Wolf Island, he is now an archaeologist working in Luxor. Marcus is not solitary like Delphin, but he is lonely, and some unknown disquiet in his past has begun to trigger debilitating panic attacks.
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From the strong opening through to the exhilarating terror of the Groundhog Day-style later chapters and its thoughtful conclusion, this is a beautifully observed, big-hearted debut novel. Marcus is not as rounded a character as Delphin and Venus, as if his being part of a larger, busy and conflicted world has thinned him, whereas Delphin comes across as deep and resonant despite being almost entirely dependent on himself.
(The potential pitfall of writing a solitary person is that they have to describe everything for the reader; Guiney sidesteps this with skill through Delphin’s recollected conversations with Granda, a witty and charming man, clearly full of love for his grandson.)
Every lighthouse has a unique flash; a repeating pattern of light and dark known as its “character”. It’s a satisfying inversion that in The Lightning, Delphin’s character shines out, strong and clear, illuminating the world for those around him.
Henrietta McKervey’s latest novel is The Woman in the Water
