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sharesb's review against another edition
5.0
I could not put this book down once I started. It was such an easy story to follow yet still very intriguing and interesting. The chapters are short, 2-5 pages in average and rotating between the two characters which I found perfect for this particular story.
I especially loved it because it takes place around Thunder Bay (where I live) so being able to identify areas and landmarks makes the book even more interesting.
The story is told so well. The book flows well. Highly recommend!
I especially loved it because it takes place around Thunder Bay (where I live) so being able to identify areas and landmarks makes the book even more interesting.
The story is told so well. The book flows well. Highly recommend!
jacki_f's review against another edition
3.0
This is the story of a family who live on an island on Lake Superior in the 1930s and run the lighthouse. There are two sons and twin daughters, Emily and Elizabeth. Emily and Elizabeth are incredibly close despite the fact that Emily is mute. At some stage the family fractured and now, 70 years later, Elizabeth is blind and living in a retirement home where she makes friends with a local teenager named Morgan. Morgan helps Elizabeth by reading aloud to her from old family journals and gradually Elizabeth tells her about her youth and its secrets and mysteries (of which there are plenty). So the story moves between the past and the (less interesting) present.
I thought this book was ok - it's an easy read, it's a nicely told story - but I also felt like I'd read it before. It is an original story, but there are lots of elements that reminded me of different books I've read. I liked the depictions of life on the island which felt very atmospheric.
Usually when a book has dual storylines you know that there are going to come together at some point and that is the case with this one but it requires a massive and unlikely coincidence.
I thought this book was ok - it's an easy read, it's a nicely told story - but I also felt like I'd read it before. It is an original story, but there are lots of elements that reminded me of different books I've read. I liked the depictions of life on the island which felt very atmospheric.
Usually when a book has dual storylines you know that there are going to come together at some point and that is the case with this one but it requires a massive and unlikely coincidence.
susanp's review against another edition
5.0
Quite a few coincidences, but a good read. Goes back and forth between current day and early in the 20th century.
jinny89's review against another edition
5.0
The beginning was kind of slow for me. Maybe it was because I didn't know what to expect going in (this book was recommended to me by several work friends). But it quickly picked up and I was hungering for more as the story went on. In fact, the last hundred pages of the book, I stayed up till the wee hours of the night to read it, because I was so close to the end.
This book alternates between the viewpoints of two characters, Morgan and Elizabeth. Morgan is a teenager who is hanging around with the wrong crowd. She's a foster child, having been bounced around many homes before, and never felt like she really belongs anywhere. After getting caught doing some illegal graffiti work at a retirement home, Morgan is sentenced to do some community service by cleaning up said graffiti.
At the retirement home, Morgan meets Elizabeth, an old blind lady. Their paths unexpectantly cross when Elizabeth recruits Morgan to assist her in reading her father's old journals for her. Her father was a lighthouse keeper in Porphyry Island on Lake Superior. Elizabeth is looking for answers to her past in the journals, and unexpectedly, Morgan realizes she is too.
Okay, so it's not the most thrilling book synopsis of all time, I know. But believe me when I say it gets really good. I would say the vast majority of the story is really about Elizabeth and her sister Emily (the lightkeeper's daughters as per the novel title). The story is essentially about Elizabeth and Emily's lives growing up on the island. Emily has some sort of mental issue where she cannot speak, so Elizabeth has spent her whole life protecting Emily. Because they lived kind of isolated on the island, to man the lighthouse, most of the time it's not an issue but there are moments when they go to the mainland or have mainlanders come to the island where Elizabeth must fiercely protect her sister.
The best part of this novel is the "mystery" aspect of it. Ah ha, you didn't know, this book is a little bit of a mystery too! Elizabeth wants Morgan to read her father's old journals out to her so she can find out something about her past ... First you don't know what this secret is, but as the journals are read, you realize there's so many more secrets! For example, why did Elizabeth not speak to her brother Charlie for over 60 years? Whatever happened to Emily? What happened to Grayson? etc. and it gets crazier when you realize Morgan is sort of related to the whole story as well. The thing is, Elizabeth actually knows all the answers, she just wants all her hunches confirmed.
So I feel like I'm not doing this book justice with my review, but it really is a great book. The atmosphere is wonderfully done in this novel, I really felt like I was transported to 1930's Ontario on the lighthouse, even though I've never been near a lighthouse before. The only thing negative I would have to say is that the ending was slightly confusing regarding who's who and how everyone is related. Maybe I just needed a visual, but it took a lot of re-reading to straighten out everyone's relations in my head.
Anyway, wonderful book! Highly recommend!
This book alternates between the viewpoints of two characters, Morgan and Elizabeth. Morgan is a teenager who is hanging around with the wrong crowd. She's a foster child, having been bounced around many homes before, and never felt like she really belongs anywhere. After getting caught doing some illegal graffiti work at a retirement home, Morgan is sentenced to do some community service by cleaning up said graffiti.
At the retirement home, Morgan meets Elizabeth, an old blind lady. Their paths unexpectantly cross when Elizabeth recruits Morgan to assist her in reading her father's old journals for her. Her father was a lighthouse keeper in Porphyry Island on Lake Superior. Elizabeth is looking for answers to her past in the journals, and unexpectedly, Morgan realizes she is too.
Okay, so it's not the most thrilling book synopsis of all time, I know. But believe me when I say it gets really good. I would say the vast majority of the story is really about Elizabeth and her sister Emily (the lightkeeper's daughters as per the novel title). The story is essentially about Elizabeth and Emily's lives growing up on the island. Emily has some sort of mental issue where she cannot speak, so Elizabeth has spent her whole life protecting Emily. Because they lived kind of isolated on the island, to man the lighthouse, most of the time it's not an issue but there are moments when they go to the mainland or have mainlanders come to the island where Elizabeth must fiercely protect her sister.
The best part of this novel is the "mystery" aspect of it. Ah ha, you didn't know, this book is a little bit of a mystery too! Elizabeth wants Morgan to read her father's old journals out to her so she can find out something about her past ... First you don't know what this secret is, but as the journals are read, you realize there's so many more secrets! For example, why did Elizabeth not speak to her brother Charlie for over 60 years? Whatever happened to Emily? What happened to Grayson? etc. and it gets crazier when you realize Morgan is sort of related to the whole story as well. The thing is, Elizabeth actually knows all the answers, she just wants all her hunches confirmed.
So I feel like I'm not doing this book justice with my review, but it really is a great book. The atmosphere is wonderfully done in this novel, I really felt like I was transported to 1930's Ontario on the lighthouse, even though I've never been near a lighthouse before. The only thing negative I would have to say is that the ending was slightly confusing regarding who's who and how everyone is related. Maybe I just needed a visual, but it took a lot of re-reading to straighten out everyone's relations in my head.
Anyway, wonderful book! Highly recommend!
marilynw's review against another edition
4.0
Very enjoyable book that pulled at the heartstring from beginning to end. I really liked the character of Elizabeth and at first, just tolerated Morgan. But I grew to like Morgan too and her grandfather was a favorite character for me, in this book. This was a library book, it'd been out for a while and had good ratings but I didn't know much more than that. Glad I read it.
punnygirl789's review against another edition
4.0
4.5 Slow start but for the last 50 pages couldn't put it down
lachelle45's review against another edition
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
bianca89279's review against another edition
4.0
The Lightkeeper's Daughters is a tender book about sisters' love, family, secrets, and lighthouse keeping on the Porphyry Island on Lake Superior. It covers a long period of time, from the WWI to present time.
Like many others, I love lighthouses, so I was drawn to this book. I haven't read anything by Pendziwol before, but I've enjoyed this novel and her writing style.
It reminded me a bit of The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Steadman, as both have light house keeping as an anchoring point for the stories.
The main characters of this novel are the elderly Elizabeth Livingstone, who's almost blind and lives in a retirement home and Morgan, a teenage girl, who's doing community service at the retirement residence after being caught doing graffiti.
The two start a relationship when Morgan starts to read to Elizabeth her father's old journals that reappeared after decades. Elizabeth's recollections fill in the gaps about what had happened. Elizabeth's and her twin sister, Emily, have always been inseparable. Elizabeth is Emily's guardian of sorts, who's always had to protect Emily from others and from herself. Their bond was extraordinary.
Secrets abound. There are misunderstandings, grudges, love and loss and art.
The descriptions of the life on the Porphyry Island were quite evocative.
Generally speaking, this novel was enjoyable, although somewhat familiar.
I've received this novel via Edelweiss. Many thanks to HarperCollins for the opportunity to read and review this novel.
Like many others, I love lighthouses, so I was drawn to this book. I haven't read anything by Pendziwol before, but I've enjoyed this novel and her writing style.
It reminded me a bit of The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Steadman, as both have light house keeping as an anchoring point for the stories.
The main characters of this novel are the elderly Elizabeth Livingstone, who's almost blind and lives in a retirement home and Morgan, a teenage girl, who's doing community service at the retirement residence after being caught doing graffiti.
The two start a relationship when Morgan starts to read to Elizabeth her father's old journals that reappeared after decades. Elizabeth's recollections fill in the gaps about what had happened. Elizabeth's and her twin sister, Emily, have always been inseparable. Elizabeth is Emily's guardian of sorts, who's always had to protect Emily from others and from herself. Their bond was extraordinary.
Secrets abound. There are misunderstandings, grudges, love and loss and art.
The descriptions of the life on the Porphyry Island were quite evocative.
Generally speaking, this novel was enjoyable, although somewhat familiar.
I've received this novel via Edelweiss. Many thanks to HarperCollins for the opportunity to read and review this novel.
edenn_serenity's review against another edition
4.0
I'd say a 3,5 rounded up. It was a nice enough book, with a kind of predictable story with some surprises that aren't enough to make up for it entirely. Still, it was well written and I enjoyed reading it as I finished it in about two weeks (for some it is long, but with a full time jobs, three kids every other week and 3 University classes, it is a wonder I have the time to read). I liked Elizabeth, Emliy and the parts relating the past. I'm not so sure about Morgan's character, which felt too rough, too little nuanced.