My expectations for The Lightkeepers were high, but Abby Geni´s novel managed not only meet them, but exceed them - it almost felt like she wrote the story to perfectly match my interests and taste in literature and that is just the best feeling!
The Lightkeepers is set on an isolated island inhabited by a group of biologists, each specialized on a certain group of animals. The book is divided into four sections according to these animals: there's the shark season, the whale season, the seal season and the bird season. The main character Miranda is a nature photographer, falling in love with the harsh scenery. But the island is a dangerous place causing both physical and psychological damage.
As I'm going to be a biologist myself I found the way Geni described the mindset and research of biologists especially interesting and familiar, I was able to recognize some of the traits in myself. She also explores the ideas behind photography (another thing I love), many of which I've never thought of before. She can express all these things elegantly and the writing just blew me away. The islands and their history, the animals and the people are all described almost poetically, some of the scenes gave me actual goosebumps. And even though not that much happens, the story feels very intense. It was difficult to stop reading.