I read this book on a recomendation from my thesis supervisor. It’s a story about Silver, an orphan taken in by the local lighthouse keeper, Mr Pew, when her mother dies. Mr Pew teaches her the importance of stories and relates to her the tale of Babel Dark, a mysterious figure of local history whose father built the lighthouse.

This is a very strange book. Time has a fluid quality to it, with different timelines being woven together. The telling of Silver’s life also jumps around a bit, from childhood, to varying parts of her adult life. I found some of the jumps in the telling of her adult life a little hard to grasp at first, though I quickly settled in.

Even identity doesn’t seem quite solid, particularly in relation to Mr Pew.

For all its strangeness, it was a very sweet book. Even as an adult there’s an innocence to Silver which makes her likeable and sets her up in contrast to Babel Dark. The book itself has an almost mythic quality to it—a story with layers and depth. It certainly doesn’t tell all of Silver’s life, but what is does tell is eloquent enough that it doesn’t need to. In fact, it’s only a short book. I read it in a couple of hours.

Overall, a lovely book.