1962, and fourteen year old Neil Pritchard is sent to spend the summer staying with his aunt in a small town on the Solway Firth. He soon finds himself enlisted to assist the up and coming young Scottish composer Euan Bone who is working on a collection of songs. Neil's unbroken voice and his strict training as a choir boy make him indispensable and he becomes an essential part of Bone's inspiration. Working with Bone opens up a new world to the young Neil, and he is swept away in his new role and his infatuation with Bone. But an unforeseen occurrence puts a stop to their collaboration, and Neil find himself ejected with barley a word of thanks.

Neil's resentment later causes him to elaborate on his relationship with Bone, so setting in place a course of event that will lead to tragedy.

At the start of the new millennium the now mature Neil looks back to the idyllic summer he spent in his youth on the Solway firth, having been approached by a publisher to write about the composer Euan Bone. He must decide whether or not to accept this commission, knowing full well that in so doing he must reveal his part in the tragic events surrounding the composer.

The Lantern Bearers is a beautifully written account which captures the seemingly black and white years before the sixties really got going. Frame magically creates a likable young Neil who is both naive yet aware, and who knows his sexual inclinations and recognises them in others. Recommended. ( )

14-year-old treble Neil Pritchard sings for composer Euan Bone every afternoon. The relationship develops into one of mutual affection and some physical intimacy, but there is no suggestion that Bone abuses the boy. Many years later, Neil discovers than Bone had abused another young boy. ( )