The Lighthouse Keeper's Daughter

By: Hazel Gaynor

Narrated by: Imogen Church

Length: 10 hrs and 27 mins

Publisher's Summary

From The New York Times best-selling author of The Girl Who Came Home comes a historical novel inspired by true events, and the extraordinary female lighthouse keepers of the past 200 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 22 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.

©2018 Hazel Gaynor (P)2018 HarperCollins Publishers

Amazing woman - amazing book & rendition

Awesome audio book - I felt like I was here and there at the same time. Read her “real” bio online, and Grace Darling was quite a woman - in a day when women weren’t considered strong enough to do much. I was blown away by Imogen Church’s reading of the book - and quickly valued her various accents while reading the various roles in Hazel Gaynor’s book. Thank you, Audible, for bringing this to the air waves!

Very disappointing

I usually like both this author and narrator, but this is a hot mess. The multiple story lines seem random, and I never cared about any of the characters. And the narrator, usually good, really over-acted the narration and gave several characters broad, exaggerated accents. Even if you've enjoyed other books by Hazel Gaynor, I'd suggest a pass on this one.

Wonderful Audio

I really loved this book. The narrator did a wonderful job bringing it to life.

It was too much

While I appreciate the apparent effort and craft that went into creating The Lighthouse Keeper’s Daughter, I found the writing’s cadence and characterizations to be far too much of the same rhythm, tone, pitch. For me, it became cloying and irritating. I rushed through it, not because I was entranced or intrigued by the story, but, on the off chance that, perhaps, it would surprise me and shift into some interesting depth and variations. It never did. I found the characters too sweet, or too nice, or flatly faulted, as with Matilda’s barely-fleshed-out mother in Ireland. The the men were of little import other than as devices for the women’s storylines and largely lacking backbone, with Grace’s father probably the exception. Yes, the storylines were set in times past, but, I found myself irritated with the book’s thin depictions of times and places and, thus, the settings themselves. It felt, to me, that while the author desired to cover much, there was not much at all, as it was hugely lacking in depth. Tragedies hit with regularity, and the women all reacted with about the same responses. They and their canned, flat reactions quickly became frustrating, conjuring eye rolling and scoffing as I listened. While there were opportunities to bring depth to the juicy subjects of Death, Loss, Life, Passion for Life, all were handled thinly. It was irking. While the narrator did give modulation and differentiation to the voicing of characters, it was all too often theatrically overdone or broadly, almost comically played. But, in my opinion, even the most satisfying narration couldn’t have saved this textureless story, nor create characters I liked or about whom I cared. I found TLKD to be made of a boringly repetitive storyline which frequently jumped back and forth with different dates, but no real differences in characters, nor depth of place or people. I desired TLKD to be a pleasant, engaging reading experience and was biased for it to be so: I’ve known and admired real life lighthouses through sailing; I’ve always loved the sea and art and Ireland and the eastern US coast are part of my life. But, even my personal connections toward those core story facets couldn’t help me become interested in what I found to be a shapeless book. It cried out for texture! This is my experience with TLKD. I’m sorry it was such. I’m happy it is doing well: I want success for all artists and happy reading experiences for those anticipating such. It wasn’t the case for me. TLKD became, and stayed, too much. I was glad when it ended.

Courageous women

there are very few happy endings in this story. however courageous, strong women a bound.

Great listen!

As always, Imogen Church excels at narrating this somewhat sad but enlightening story of love and loss.

A Tender And Beautiful Story Of Love And Courage

This is the 3rd book in a row by Hazel Gaynor that I have listened to. I have added her to my favorite author list. Her stories are so well written and draw you into her amazing characters and touching plots. This book was a compilation of a family's history with its sadness and joys. I believe it is a wonderful book.

Lighthouse

Such a remarkable presentation. The voices spoke to me and brought smiles and a few tears. So very well done. Worth every minute.

Unique story

The Lighthouse Keeper’s Daughter is a unique story built around personal hardships and family relationships and a catastrophe that occurs near to the Lighthouse. I found it to be very interesting.

An excellently titled book.

The narrator did a pretty good job, but a couple times she did not change her voice when the character changed. I'm surprised that wasn't taken care of in an edit. I was also disappointed in the epilogue. The rest of the story was real and believable with many lessons one could learn from it. but the epilogue was much too fanciful for my taste. I greatly enjoyed and was amazed constantly by the descriptions of things by the author and I enjoyed the carry-through of every theme. You are not left up in the air about what happened to any of the important characters. Although laced with much tragedy it was a hopeful and very insightful narrative. I have lived by the sea all my life and this story makes me appreciate and love it even more.