Contents (57)
- Prologue
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-One
- Twenty-Two
- Twenty-Three
- Twenty-Four
- Twenty-Five
- Twenty-Six
- Twenty-Seven
- Twenty-Eight
- Twenty-Nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-One
- Thirty-Two
- Thirty-Three
- Thirty-Four
- Thirty-Five
- Thirty-Six
- Thirty-Seven
- Thirty-Eight
- Thirty-Nine
- Forty
- Forty-One
- Forty-Two
- Forty-Three
- Forty-Four
- Forty-Five
- Forty-Six
- Forty-Seven
- Forty-Eight
- Forty-Nine
- Fifty
- Fifty-One
- Fifty-Two
- Fifty-Three
- Acknowledgements
- About the Author
- Also by Sharon Gosling
‘Looking at these, you can see a clear progression,’ Rachel said. ‘It’s as if an idea that had been nebulous before is beginning to solidify into something more definite throughout the course of 1812. The first of the notebooks starts out as a series of sketches of lighthouse towers like the ones in the first notebook. They’re repeated over and over, at first as if it’s a doodle, but then slowly they become more deliberate. Towards the back of the first notebook, there are the annotated notes. The sketches become more like diagrams, with firmer lines and clearer details.’
‘Can I see?’
‘Of course,’ Rachel said, leaning over to pick up one of the notebooks. ‘Just be aware that they’re quite fragile in places.’
Toby gently turned the pages as Rachel went on.
‘In the second notebook from the same year – that’s the one you’re looking at now – it really seems as if the writer is trying to work out how to actually physically build a lighthouse. There are notes about building techniques, weight ratios, plant equipment and suitable materials, that kind of thing.’
Toby turned a page and a sheet of yellowed paper slipped out. Rachel retrieved it and passed it back to him.
‘Believe it or not,’ Rachel said, as Toby unfolded the sheet to find a wall of neatly written text, ‘that’s a letter from Robert Stevenson, who built the Bell Rock light tower. The owner of the notebook had obviously been exchanging letters with him, asking for advice.’
Toby examined the letter, thinking there must be a name somewhere.
‘There’s no addressee,’ Rachel said, clearly way ahead of him. ‘It just says “Dear Sir”. After that, the next notebooks are dated 1813, and from that point it seems that the writer had a definite project to build a lighthouse. There are scrolls with early designs. They culminate with this one, which shows a blueprint that looks very near in design to the lighthouse as it was built.’ Rachel reached out and pulled a large scroll of paper towards them, unfurling it gently. ‘I think this one is probably the design the builders worked from,’ Rachel said. ‘We know that the tower was completed and opened as the MacDonald family’s library at the end of 1815, so the physical building work probably started at least two years before, meaning 1813. And look how creased and dog-eared this is. There aren’t any more detailed blueprints after this. I think this is the actual working blueprint.’
Toby looked at the scroll. ‘The camera obscura doesn’t seem to be in this sketch.’
‘No,’ Rachel agreed, ‘but I think the architect had already intended it to be here.’ She pointed to the lighthouse’s roof on the sketch and then up to the apex of the dome above them. ‘The lens aperture is there, on the design. The builders would have incorporated it because it’s on the plans. It’s just that there’s nothing marked inside the dome.’
‘So… the architect was even then trying to keep the true intended nature of this room a secret?’ Toby asked.