The Lightkeeper's Daughters

The Lightkeeper's Daughters by Jean E. Pendziwol. New York: Harper Collins, 2017. 311 pages. Includes "About the author" "About the book" and Read On" ****

Told in the alternating voices of Morgan, a juvenile delinquent who is performing community service and Elizabeth, a resident in a nursing home who has lost her sight. An unlikely alliance and friendship is formed between the two. Morgan reads aloud Elizabeth's late father's diaries who was the lightkeeper on Porphyry Island on Lake Superior. As the story unfolds, Morgan and Elizabeth realize that their pasts are connected and both receive some of the answers they have been seeking.

A complicated tale about an unlikely friendship. Morgan a hostile, foul-mouthed teen who has to repaint a fence that she tagged and Elizabeth who seeks solace in her music because she can no longer enjoy reading. They form a kinship that bridges the generations and discover that they both have a connection to Porphyry Island.

I was drawn into the story from the very beginning and suspected that there was a connection between the two. While the story seemed to be confusing with the identities of the daughters (no spoilers here), it is a book that once started I wanted to stay with it until the end. I enjoyed it and will pass it on to my reading friends.

Jean E. Pendziwol was born and raised in Thunder Bay, and is an award-winning author of books for children. She lives in Ontario, where she can see Lake Superior (when it isn't foggy). The Lightkeeper's Daughters is her first novel for adults.

#historicalfiction #lighthousefiction