Locations of Lights Out with Louise Swanson

Submitted: 29th October 2025

Lights Out set in Yorkshire

Lights Out tells the tale of Grace and her abject fear of the dark. A fear so insidious, she behaves like a child when the lights go out. In fact, she can never let them go out, and sleeps with them on, every night.

That is until the government come up with a blackout scheme to reserve energy. Every night from 8pm the electricity is switched off until dawn. The UK is plunged into blackness. And Grace is plunged into panic. This is only made worse when an intruder breaks into the house while she sleeps and leaves curious gifts and a note, signed Love from The Night. Who on earth are they? Why Grace?

Location Map of Lights Out

Location Map of Lights Out

Another main character is Tom, going through his own crisis. He fears his partner is cheating and goes to great lengths to try and stop this. But unlike Grace, he loves the dark. He embraces it, feels safe there. But strange things are happening to him also…

Lights Out Louise Swanson

Location Map of Lights Out

I was inspired to tell this story during the first Cost of Living Crisis in the winter of 2022/2023. It was a time when many of us couldn’t afford to have our heating on, and when the elderly and vulnerable suffered greatly. I wrote the book wearing gloves and wrapped in a blanket because I didn’t dare turn the radiators on. Also, I was suffering from insomnia and when I couldn’t sleep, I looked out of the window. Every night, the bedroom opposite had the light on all night. I wondered why. Where they away and wanted possible intruders to think they were home? Were they shift workers? Or was someone afraid of the dark? Then I wondered … how would they feel if they couldn’t have the lights on?

Location Map of Lights Out

I knew that the setting for this book should in the north. Not only could I use the theme of a north/south divide and have London keeping the lights on while others suffer, but the grittiness of this area works well with the themes. And what better place than my home city of Hull and its surrounding areas? The River Humber is one of the most dangerous in the world, and the bridge is a symbol sadly of many lost lives and jumps. My own mother jumped from there in 2019, though by a miracle she survived. I knew that the foreshore down there would be one of the darkest places imaginable in a blackout, with its many tunnels and trees.

Location Map of Lights Out

I went down to the River Humber at night – not alone, I must add, with my husband – to see how dark and spooky it was. And that was with lights on! It was the perfect setting for someone to face a fear of the dark. Shadowy, desolate, with the sound of the wind in the trees and the river, and the clanking of the nearby bridge, it’s terrifying there at night.

Location Map of Lights Out

Though I might not recommend visitors going there at midnight, I would suggest a walk around the area during the day. On a clear day the river is beautiful, and the Humber Bridge is a magnificent thing to see. I’ve set many of my books down here. The place never fails to stir me. I was brought up in this region, so it’s in my blood.

Why not try what Lights Out means to you?