The Beacon

St Just Thursday Evening Reading Group 6th March 2025.

The Beacon. Susan Hill.

The group enjoyed this book, finding it easy to read and a good story, convincingly told. One reader pointed out that the subject matter was very dark, starting off with a death and continuing with a lot of serious problems: mental illness, childhood abuse, libel (possibly) and the destruction of a family’s reputation.

We spent some time discussing what appeared to be the main point of the book, which was why Frank, who left his home at The Beacon (a farm in the north of England), and led an apparently happy and successful life elsewhere, chose to write and publish a book detailing childhood abuse and cruelty from his parents and siblings – abuse which no other member of his family recalled or recognised in any way. Why did he wish to ruin the lives of his mother and siblings, making them the object of suspicion and ostracism locally? There appeared to be no reason for Frank to destroy his family in this way, unless Frank, like his sister May, had a mental health problem – though this was never alluded to and did not appear to have affected any other aspect of Frank’s life.

Further to this, why did Bertha leave the farm to Frank, instead of to Colin, the son who was expected to inherit it and benefit from doing so? And even more baffling, why did Frank go back to The Beacon to live there, if he had hated it so much?

Though the book was highly readable, and we all identified with various aspects of it – May’s attempt to live in London, her mother’s death, and the lives of all her siblings – at the end, we felt unable to understand why Frank behaved the way he did, and so ultimately we found the book disappointing. Though certainly interesting!