The Lighthouse Keeper’s Daughter
From the bestselling author of The Girl Who Came Home and The Girl From The Savoy comes a novel inspired by the extraordinary story of a remarkable young woman.‘This exquisite, thoroughly researched book places (Gaynor) a clear head and shoulders above the rest. Sunday Independent1838: when a terrible storm blows up off the Northumberland coast, Grace Darling, the lighthouse-keeper’s daughter, knows there is little chance of survival for the passengers on the small ship battling the waves. But her actions set in motion an incredible feat of bravery that echoes down the century.1938: when nineteen-year-old Matilda Emmerson sails from across the Atlantic to New England, she faces an uncertain future. Sent away in disgrace, she must stay with her reclusive relative, Harriet Flaherty, a lighthouse keeper on Rhode Island. Once there, Matilda discovers a discarded portrait that opens a window on to a secret that will change her life forever.
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Published by HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd
1 London Bridge Street
London SE1 9GF
First published in Great Britain by © HarperCollinsPublishers 2018
Copyright © Hazel Gaynor 2018
Cover design: Claire Ward © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2018
Cover photographs © Jill Battaglia / Trevillion Images
(Lighthouse/background), Lee Avison / Arcangel images (Woman on hill)
Hazel Gaynor asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.
Source ISBN: 9780008255213
Ebook Edition © September 2018 ISBN: 9780008255237
Version: 2018-08-07
For courageous women everywhere. You know who you are.
I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my ship.
—Louisa May Alcott
There are two ways of spreading light; to be the candle, or the mirror that reflects it.
—Edith Wharton
Contents
Copyright
Dedication
Epigraph
Prologue: Matilda
Volume One
Chapter One: Sarah
Chapter Two: Grace
Chapter Three: Sarah
Chapter Four: Grace
Chapter Five: Sarah
Chapter Six: Grace
Chapter Seven: Sarah
Chapter Eight: Grace
Chapter Nine: Sarah
Chapter Ten: Grace
Chapter Eleven: Matilda
Chapter Twelve: Matilda
Chapter Thirteen: Harriet
Chapter Fourteen: Matilda
Chapter Fifteen: Grace
Chapter Sixteen: Grace
Chapter Seventeen: Grace
Volume Two
Chapter Eighteen: Matilda
Chapter Nineteen: Harriet
Chapter Twenty: Matilda
Chapter Twenty-One: Grace
Chapter Twenty-Two: Grace
Chapter Twenty-Three: Grace
Chapter Twenty-Four: Grace
Chapter Twenty-Five: Matilda
Chapter Twenty-Six: Matilda
Chapter Twenty-Seven: Harriet
Chapter Twenty-Eight: Matilda
Chapter Twenty-Nine: Grace
Chapter Thirty: Grace
Chapter Thirty-One: Grace
Chapter Thirty-Two: Grace
Chapter Thirty-Three: Grace
Chapter Thirty-Four: Matilda
Chapter Thirty-Five: Harriet
Chapter Thirty-Six: Matilda
Volume Three
Chapter Thirty-Seven: Grace
Chapter Thirty-Eight: Grace
Chapter Thirty-Nine: Matilda
Chapter Forty: Matilda
Chapter Forty-One: Grace
Chapter Forty-Two: George
Chapter Forty-Three: Grace
Chapter Forty-Four: Grace
Chapter Forty-Five: Matilda
Chapter Forty-Six: Matilda
Chapter Forty-Seven: Grace
Chapter Forty-Eight: Matilda
Chapter Forty-Nine: Harriet
Chapter Fifty: Grace
Chapter Fifty-One: Matilda
Chapter Fifty-Two: Harriet
Chapter Fifty-Three: Matilda
Chapter Fifty-Four: Grace
Chapter Fifty-Five: George
Chapter Fifty-Six: Matilda
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
The Creation of a Heroine
Reading Group Questions
About the Author
Also by Hazel Gaynor
About the Publisher
THEY CALL IT Heartbreak Pier, the place from where I will leave Ireland. It is a place that has seen too many goodbyes.
From the upper balcony of the ticket office I watch the third-class passengers below, sobbing as they cling to their loved ones, exchanging tokens of remembrance and promises to write. The outpouring of emotion is a sharp contrast to the silence as I stand between my mother and Mrs. O’Driscoll, my chaperone for the journey. I’ve done all my crying, all my pleading and protesting. All I feel now is a sullen resignation to whatever fate has in store for me on the other side of the Atlantic. I hardly care anymore.
Tired of waiting to board the tenders, I take my ticket from my purse and read the neatly typed details for the umpteenth time. Matilda Sarah Emmerson. Age 19. Cabin Class. Cobh to New York. T.S.S. California. Funny, how it says so much about me, and yet says nothing at all. I fidget with the paper ticket, tug at the buttons on my gloves, check my watch, spin the cameo locket at my neck.
