Petrina’s Picks
The Lighthouse Keeper’s Daughter by Hazel Gaynor
This novel is set in the United Kingdom in the late 1830’s, and the main character is based on a real-life person. It also has drama unfolding in America in the late 1930’s, and the two stories run parallel, coming together in the 1930’s.
It is well written, has a few twists and turns along the way and has quite a bit of emotional content.
Lighthouses are described in such detail that the reader is made to feel like they are there.
It has some fictional characters added for extra drama and flavour.
Both stories have a very emotional element of love and loss which helps flesh out the historical elements. It helps capture the interest of the reader from the outset.
Even if lighthouses aren’t normally a personal topic or interest to you, they are described in such detail that they’re almost characters themselves.
A real-life tragedy is thrust upon one of the lighthouse’s narratives and is so well described you can picture yourself in the middle of the mayhem and devastation.
Each lighthouse’s story is a century apart and in distance from the other, but the author links them both in a way that is seamless.
Even though it has true events and people from history in its pages, it is written so well that it doesn’t feel like just a historical narrative. The characters do come alive, and it is more entertaining than just a historical depiction.
This book helps to keep the memory of one of the main characters alive, to bring her to the attention of those of us who otherwise would never have known of her existence.
Petrina Stiller – Miles Bookclub
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