The Lighthouse Keeper's Daughter - Book Review

Hazel Gaynor's The Lighthouse Keeper's Daughter is a family saga that takes you back and forth between 1838 and 1938. It goes between an English family working a lighthouse and a young Irish girl forced on an "American holiday" due to an out-of-wedlock pregnancy. It's also a story of brave women.

In 1838, Grace Darling and her father rescue several shipwrecked survivors after a terrible storm. Grace is lauded as a hero. What other woman would have gone out in that weather to attempt a rescue? But to Grace, she was merely doing her job as a lighthouse keeper. She doesn't want the public's affections, but she does want the attention of Scottish artist George Emmerson. There lives become even more entwined, but can anything bring Grace away from her beloved lighthouse?

In 1938, Matilda Emmerson reaches Newport, Rhode Island to stay with a distant relative for the duration of her pregnancy. She's alone and afraid, saddened that her mother sent her away without a second thought and that she disappointed her politician father. But as Matilda begins helping out cousin Harriet at the lighthouse, she discovers more about her family's past and more about her own strength than she ever thought possible.

This is a lovely story about family with a surprise twist that I didn't see coming. There's romance, adventure, and bad weather, and even though parts of it are bittersweet, it's fun to read about how the past lives come together and influence the future.

The Lighthouse Keeper's Daughter is published by William Morrow and is on bookstore shelves now. I received a free advance review copy at Book Expo.