An evening with Cole Moreton and the Light Keeper

A young woman stands on the brink, arms open wide as if to let the world carry her away. She’s come to the high cliffs to be alone, to face the truth about her life, to work out what to do. Her lover Jack is searching, desperate to find her before it is too late. But Sarah doesn’t want to be found. Not yet. Not by him. And someone else is seeking answers up here, where the seabirds soar - a man known only as the Keeper, living in an old lighthouse right on the cusp of a four-hundred-foot drop. He is all too aware that sometimes love takes you to the edge …

Cole Moreton is a writer and broadcaster who has written for The Guardian, The Telegraph and many others. His Radio 4 documentary The Boy Who Gave His Heart Away won Audio Moment of the Year at the Arias and Best Writing at the New York Festival, before being made into a book of the same name. Cole has also written and presented programmes for Radio 4 exploring how the rich and the poor see each other in London and the relationship between Calais and Dover, where migrants continue to risk their lives in small boats.

Cole has covered many of the big stories of our times, from 9/11 to the death and funeral of Nelson Mandela and from the murder of Milly Dowler to the London Olympics. He was named Interviewer of the Year at the Press Awards for his work with the Mail on Sunday and has interviewed some of the most famous, influential or notorious people in the world.

His non-fiction debut Hungry for Home was shortlisted for the John Llewellyn Rhys prize for first book in any genre, alongside Zadie Smith’s White Teeth. His book Is God Still An Englishman? How Britain lost its faith (but found new soul) explores the dramatic changes in British identity, culture and spirituality in recent decades and was described by the Observer as “taking the spiritual temperature of the nation”.

The Light Keeper is his first novel and has been ten years in the writing. Cole lives on the South Coast and spends as much time as possible staring out to sea.

Now he presents a live performance of words, visuals and songs exploring the world of his debut novel The Light Keeper and the real-life stories that inspired it. The music comes from the album of the same name, available on Spotify and iTunes now, by his band The Light Keepers, a collaboration with the musician David Perry.

In the second half of the show, Cole will take questions and talk about his life, work and faith.