A novel by E. M. Curnow COMING
They're decommissioning Pendrym Point. Doc and the Captain against the inevitable — and the truth about what really happened at the light in '78, with Captain Dunning called to testify.
In The Keeper's Last Light, change is coming to Pendrym Point, and not everyone is ready to let the old beacon go dark. As decommissioning looms, Doc and the Captain find themselves standing against the inevitable, while a long-buried question from 1978 begins to press back into the present. With Captain Dunning called to testify, this is a thoughtful, sea-salted story about memory, duty and the truths a village carries.
Readers aged 12 to 15 will find a more reflective Polperran here: tense, absorbing, but never gratuitously frightening. E. M. Curnow’s prose has the steady rhythm of harbour talk and storm-watch silence, with flashes of dry humour and warmth between characters who know one another far too well. The peril is emotional as much as practical, giving older children room to think, wonder and argue their way through the story.
Part of the Polperran novels, The Keeper's Last Light sits among the books for readers growing into the village’s deeper histories. Familiar places and relationships are seen with older eyes, as Pendrym Point connects the everyday life of Polperran with questions of responsibility, testimony and what is owed to the past. It is a strong next step for readers who have grown up alongside this Cornish storybook community.