The Lighthouse Keeper's Daughter

by Hazel Gaynor

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062698629
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	10/09/2018
Pages:	416
Sales rank:	62,167
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 7.80(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Hazel Gaynor is the award-winning New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of A Memory of Violets and The Girl Who Came Home, for which she received the 2015 Romantic Novelists’ Association Historical Romantic Novel of the Year award. Her third novel, The Girl from The Savoy, was an Irish Times and Globe and Mail bestseller, and was shortlisted for the 2016 Irish Book Awards Popular Fiction Book of the Year. Her most recent novel, The Lighthouse Keeper’s Daughter, was a USA Today and Irish Times bestseller, and was shortlisted for the 2019 Historical Writers’ Association Gold Crown Award. Hazel’s work has been translated into fourteen languages. She lives in Ireland with her husband and two children.

Editorial Reviews

08/27/2018
Lighthouse keeping, courage, and a complicated family history connect two women living a century apart in this wispy tale from bestseller Gaynor (The Girl Who Came Home). In the 19th century, modest, dutiful Grace Darling assists her father in rescuing the survivors of a shipwreck. Among them is a young mother, Sarah Dawson, who lost both children to the sea. Grace’s display of exceptional bravery in venturing out in the middle of a raging storm catapults her into sudden and unwanted fame. In the 1900s, Sarah’s descendant, the rebellious Matilda Emmerson—19, pregnant, and unwed—is sent from Ireland to Rhode Island to live with lighthouse keeper Harriet Flaherty, her distant, eccentric relative. While in Rhode Island, Matilda researches her family history, uncovering both Grace’s tragic, forgotten love story and startling revelations about her own parentage. Grace and Matilda’s lives parallel each other as both exhibit quiet bravery, fall in love with artists, and develop intense connections with the lighthouses they tend. Gaynor’s writing is capable, though the story is slight and the link between centuries feels tenuous at times. The novel will appeal to fans of low-key women’s fiction, but readers looking for drama won’t find it here. Agent: Michelle Brower, Aevitas Creative Management. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

This is historical fiction at its finest.

Fiona Davis

A splendid read—The Lighthouse Keeper’s Daughter is not to be missed!” — Kate Quinn, New York Times Bestselling Author of The Alice Network

“Hazel Gaynor’s skillful artistry as a storyteller glitters like the sun...” — Susan Meissner, New York Times Bestselling Author of As Bright as Heaven

“This is historical fiction at its finest.” — Fiona Davis, national bestselling author of The Masterpiece

“Gaynor has always been a better writer than her peers, and this exquisite, thoroughly researched book places her a clear head and shoulders above the rest.” — Sunday Independent

“Gaynor’s narrative seamlessly flows between the eras and the women, chronicling their longing, their pain, and their quiet triumphs...Based on the real life of Grace Darling and two fierce storms, Gaynor’s tale is both heartbreaking and captivating.” — Historical Novel Society

“...the many complicated women in it add a few more members to the women lighthouse keepers who perhaps, in their own small ways, lit the way for the women of today.” — Book Riot

From the Publisher

Gaynor’s narrative seamlessly flows between the eras and the women, chronicling their longing, their pain, and their quiet triumphs...Based on the real life of Grace Darling and two fierce storms, Gaynor’s tale is both heartbreaking and captivating.

Historical Novel Society

...the many complicated women in it add a few more members to the women lighthouse keepers who perhaps, in their own small ways, lit the way for the women of today.

Book Riot

A splendid read—The Lighthouse Keeper’s Daughter is not to be missed!

Kate Quinn

Hazel Gaynor’s skillful artistry as a storyteller glitters like the sun...

Susan Meissner

Gaynor has always been a better writer than her peers, and this exquisite, thoroughly researched book places her a clear head and shoulders above the rest.

Sunday Independent