Light Keeper's Daughters (Pendziwol)

The Light Keeper's Daughter 
Jean E. Pendziwol, 2017
HarperCollins
320 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780062572028


Summary
Though her mind is still sharp, Elizabeth's eyes have failed.

No longer able to linger over her beloved books or gaze at the paintings that move her spirit, she fills the void with music and memories of her family—a past that suddenly becomes all too present when her late father's journals are found amid the ruins of an old shipwreck.

With the help of Morgan, a delinquent teenage performing community service, Elizabeth goes through the diaries, a journey through time that brings the two women closer together.

Entry by entry, these unlikely friends are drawn deep into a world far removed from their own — to Porphyry Island on Lake Superior, where Elizabeth’s father manned the lighthouse seventy years before.

As the words on these musty pages come alive, Elizabeth and Morgan begin to realize that their fates are connected to the isolated island in ways they never dreamed. While the discovery of Morgan's connection sheds light onto her own family mysteries, the faded pages of the journals hold more questions than answers for Elizabeth, and threaten the very core of who she is. (From the publisher.)

Author Bio
• Birth—1965
• Where—Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada
• Education—N/A
• Awards— Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children's Book Award
• Currently—lives in Thunder Bay, Ontario


Jean E. Pendziwol was born in Thunder Bay on Lake Superior, in northwestern Ontario, Canada. She spent much of her childhood aboard her family’s sailboat, exploring the islands and bays of the inland sea. After working as a freelance writer and photographer, she spent several years focusing on raising her three children before publishing her first children’s book. She lives in Ontario, in the shadow of the Nor’Wester Mountains, with her husband, two of her three grown children, a loveable mutt, and three temperamental chickens, who sometimes lay eggs (From the publisher.)

Book Reviews
Morgan Fletcher is performing community service at the senior center, penance for tagging it with graffiti art. She’s matched up with Elizabeth Livingstone, an elderly woman whose mind is still sharp, even though her eyesight has failed her. Elizabeth has just been sent some journals belonging to her late father, but she needs Morgan’s help to read them. As Elizabeth uncovers details from her past with each page, Morgan becomes more determined to solve the mysteries in her own life.
New York Post


A remarkable achievement.… [A] story of commitment, identity, and familial loyalty that will leave one in tears. Five out of five stars.
New York Journal of Books


Seamlessly weaves between past and present.… I loved this story! From the characters to the setting, each aspect is perfect. The Light Keeper's Daughters is one of the best books that I’ve read this year.… [B]eautifully written.
Fresh Fiction


YA author Pendziwol pins her first story for adults to the "fortunes of chance."… This is a perfect hammock read for those who love the Brontë sisters and Jodi Picoult in equal measure.
Publishers Weekly


This atmospheric novel tells an intricate story about familial love and deception. While the story at the novel's core may lean toward the melodramatic, readers will be drawn in by the intergenerational relationship. —Mara Dabrishus, Ursuline Coll. Lib., Pepper Pike, OH
Library Journal


Deeply satisfying.… With strong characters and rich in historical details, The Lightkeeper’s Daughters looks carefully at love and identity and the things we do to keep them both safe.
Booklist


Pendziwol has created an intricately satisfying story about love and deception that manages to be both melancholy and exhilarating. A haunting tale of nostalgia and lost chances that is full of last-minute surprises.
Kirkus Reviews

Discussion Questions
The following questions were generously provided to LitLovers by Linda of Anaheim Page Turners. Thank you, Linda!

1. What is the setting for this novel? Did you think the author portrayed the setting and the experiences of a lighthouse keeper well?

2. We first are introduced to Morgan. Describe her. What are her problems at the beginning of the story?

3. What takes Morgan to the care facility? What is she supposed to do there?

4. What attracts Elizabeth to Morgan so that she would reveal her background to a stranger?

5. How does Morgan move the story of the Livingston sisters forward and help reveal their secrets?

6. Describe the Livingston family: Elizabeth, Emily, Lil, Andrew, Peter, and Charlie.

7. Greyson and David Fletcher worked at the lighthouse at different times. How are they related to the Livingston family experiences?

8. Who were Alfred and Millie? How did they save Elizabeth and Emily? How did they enrich their lives?

9. Who said, "You should have let her die. Emily will never be right"? How did you interpret that statement? Does that statement help you understand her actions that occur later in the story?

10. Elizabeth called the year of 1942 the Year of 3 Deaths. Whose deaths was she referring to?

11. Elizabeth said, "Have I created a truth? One I can live with? Have I relived the moment so many times that my fiction is now my truth — the truth I want it to be?" What was she referring to? Have you ever repeated past events in your mind so many times, you are no longer sure what is really true and what you have convinced yourself is true?

12. How did Emily learn she was not related to Lil or Pa or Emily?

13. What happened to Emily after the fire which burned the lighthouse and killed Lil?

14. Who arranged the release of Emily? How did this change her life?

15. Who was Elizabeth really?

16. Who hid Andrew’s logbooks? And how were they found?

17. Emily was raped and became pregnant by whom? What was his motivation? How did Arnie Richardson pay for his practical joke in the Indian graveyard?

18. What did Emily name her baby? Who took the baby away? What name was she then given? What was her fate?

19. How is Morgan related to the Livingstone family? How does she bring the family full circle? Was David Fletcher actually her grandfather?

20. The wolf mentioned throughout the novel is a symbol of what?

20. What theme or message did you take away from this story?

21. Did you enjoy the story? Why or why not?   

(Questions submitted to LitLovers by Linda of Anaheim Page Turners. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution.)

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