Book Review: The Lighthouse Keeper’s Daughter by Hazel Gaynor

About:

The Lighthouse Keeper’s Daughter by Hazel Gaynor is a historical fiction book, telling of Grace Darling, a celebrated heroine, and her ancestor a hundred years later. Ms. Gaynor is an award winning author from Ireland.

• 416 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 9780062698629

My rating for The Lighthouse Keeper’s Daughter – 4
Buy The Lighthouse Keeper’s Daughter  from Amazon.com*
Buy The Lighthouse Keeper’s Daughter  from HarperCollins
More Books by Hazel Gaynor*

Thoughts:

I knew nothing about this book when I started reading, except the synopsis which sounded interesting. About a quarter way into The Lighthouse Keeper’s Daughter by Hazel Gaynor I had to stop and find out if one of the protagonist, Grace Darling, was fictional or not.
She is not.

Grace Darling was a real person, a lighthouse keeper’s daughter, and a heroine who saved people when their ship crashed. Like in the book, Grace Darling became famous featured in merchandise (the chocolate bar was my favorite), pictures, and stories.

The narrative follows two timelines, that of Grace Darling in 1838, and that of Matilda Emmerson in 1938. We follow Grace Darling throughout most of her life, and Matilda Emmerson through several formidable events while visiting her aunt in the United States.

This is a charming book, half the book is historical fiction (the parts about Grace Darling), the other half which tells the story of Matilda is pure fiction as the author notes.

The story was easy to digest, and the narrative was very easy to read. The switch between the time periods were not difficult to follow.

About:

Grace Darling lives at a Longstone Lighthouse, Northumberland, England with her mother and father. During an 1838 shipwreck Grace and her father rescue survivors during the storm. Grace becomes a celebrity throughout England, but the only attention she wants is that of George Emmerson, an artist.

Newport, Rhode Island, 1938, Matilda Emmerson, 19 and pregnant, has been sent from Ireland in disgrace to “visit” her relatives in American until she gives birth. Matilda meets her relative, Harriet, a lighthouse keeper, and in the process discovers a family history she never knew about.

Buy The Lighthouse Keeper’s Daughter  from Amazon.com*
Buy The Lighthouse Keeper’s Daughter  from HarperCollins
More Books by Hazel Gaynor*

Zohar — Man of la Book
Dis­claimer: I got this book for free from TLC Book Tours.
*Ama­zon links point to an affil­i­ate account