M&B March Book Club Pick: The Lightkeeper's Daughters
My book of the month for February was The Lightkeeper’s Daughters by Jean E. Pendziwol. Part of my efforts to read more this year also included a commitment to reading more Canadian writing – whether it be based in Canada or written by Canadian authors. The Lightkeeper’s Daughter is both.
Centered in the remote and rugged landscape of Northern Canada, this novel tells the story of a young, troubled woman, Morgan Fletcher, sentenced to community service after being caught vandalizing a retirement home. It is there she meets Elizabeth Livingstone, a resident of the home, a blind but acute woman with years of history weighing on her mind in the form of her father’s journals. When Elizabeth asks Morgan to read the journals to her, Morgan reluctantly obliges. The journals recount the experiences of a family tasked with the responsibility of guiding vessels through the tempestuous waters of Lake Superior from their lookout in Porphyry Island’s lighthouse. In the isolation of their northern island, the passings of the world have little impact on their lives, until World War Two unfolds on the European front, setting into motion a chain of events that would change the lives of the residents of Porphyry.
In some ways, the setting of the story felt almost therapeutic compared to the bustling cityscapes of New York or Paris that have tended to dominate the books I’ve read recently. Pendziwol beautifully narrates this story, based on true events, with descriptions that conjure up the smell of the northern pines and the craggy underfoot of the rocky Canadian Shield. There’s a sense of romance about a simpler time in a quieter part of the world.
