In 1883, the Longstone Lighthouse on Farne Islands off the Northumberland Coast of England is home to Grace Darling, where she assists her father in caring for the lighthouse. Grace enjoys the solitude and simplicity of her life sharing the quiet and peace with her parents and her younger brother, who will eventually take over the lighthouse. Every evening, Grace climbs to the top of the lighthouse to beam the lights out to signal support for any ships that may need it. One night during a ferocious storm, Grace watches as a ship hits the rocks. She and her father immediately set out in their rowboat to offer assistance. It's a long, hard haul but they save one woman and eight men returning them to safety. Her father returns to pick up the rest of the survivors clinging to the jagged cliffs while Grace nurses the injured.

Grace quickly became a strong heroine. Songs and ballads are written for her and she receives many letters, including proposals of marriage. As she becomes celebrated throughout England, her portrait is painted more than once, and one artist in particular, George Emmerson, not only does a beautiful painting of her, he falls deeply in love. Grace returns his affection but neither of them reveals their true feelings. But when Grace discovers a secret about George, she questions everything she believed to be true...

In 1993, nineteen-year-old Matilda Emmerson lives in Ireland and is unexpectedly pregnant. Her father is a powerful politician and her mother is cold with no interest in her daughter or the baby. She is sent to live with a distant relative in Newport, Rhode Island, where she will stay until the baby is born and given up for adoption. Reclusive Harriet Flaherty is a lighthouse keeper and is used to living alone. Matilda is given a small room and food and left to fend for herself. There are many secrets that separate Harriet and Matilda and their relationship is not an easy one. Slowly but surely, they begin to talk to each other and the things revealed are sweet and wonderful. Matilda discovers she loves to tend to the lighthouse and she has a lot to look forward to: her future, Harriet, her baby, and her new friends.

I found THE LIGHTHOUSE KEEPER'S DAUGHTER to be a beautifully told story of two heroines, centuries apart, but both courageous in their heartbreak, loss, and tragedy. The locales are lovely. You can smell the salt air and feel the breezes. Two timelines that are woven together to show how the past shapes the future. What fun it would be to be a lighthouse keeper! Hazel Gaynor pulled out all the stops to paint a historical tale that mesmerized me from start to finish. Bravo, great read!

Book Summary

From The New York Times bestselling author of The Girl Who Came Home comes a historical novel inspired by true events, and the extraordinary female lighthouse keepers of the past two hundred years.

“They call me a heroine, but I am not deserving of such accolades. I am just an ordinary young woman who did her duty.”

1838: Northumberland, England. Longstone Lighthouse on the Farne Islands has been Grace Darling’s home for all of her twenty-two years. When she and her father rescue shipwreck survivors in a furious storm, Grace becomes celebrated throughout England, the subject of poems, ballads, and plays. But far more precious than her unsought fame is the friendship that develops between Grace and a visiting artist. Just as George Emmerson captures Grace with his brushes, she in turn captures his heart.

1938: Newport, Rhode Island. Nineteen-years-old and pregnant, Matilda Emmerson has been sent away from Ireland in disgrace. She is to stay with Harriet, a reclusive relative and assistant lighthouse keeper, until her baby is born. A discarded, half-finished portrait opens a window into Matilda’s family history. As a deadly hurricane approaches, two women, living a century apart, will be linked forever by their instinctive acts of courage and love.