“I just finished a wonderful book, ‘The Lightkeeper’s Daughters,’ by Jean E. Pendziwol, a noted Canadian author of children’s stories. This is her first adult novel and I hope not her last.

“It tells the story of an elderly woman, Elizabeth, with failing eyesight who lives in a retirement home. The woman is nearing the end of a long life, spent devoted to her twin sister, Emily. The twins are the daughters in the title, having grown up in the 1920s and ’30s as children whose father (and mother) were the lighthouse keepers on remote Porphyry Island in a corner of Lake Superior.

“Elizabeth by chance meets a troubled teenage girl, Morgan, assigned to perform community service at the retirement home. When a set of Elizabeth’s father’s journals from the lighthouse are delivered to her after an accident involving her brother, Charlie, she enlists Morgan to read the journals to her. The two set off on a journey through Elizabeth’s childhood on the island and the complex yet indestructible bond she shared with her sister, and how their relationship affected the family’s life over the years.

“Meantime, Morgan, a frightened and jaded foster child, forms an attachment to Elizabeth. The two of them confront their individual fears and questions as they progress through the journals. The apparently idyllic life Elizabeth and Emily shared on the island was not what it seemed. There were secrets kept from the girls by their parents that Elizabeth suspected but could never confirm. She’s hoping her father’s chronicle will reveal them. Morgan is confused about her own life and family; raised by her grandfather from early childhood after her mother’s death, she’s seeking answers of her own. Her grandfather, now deceased, becomes a key figure as Elizabeth and Morgan slowly piece the puzzles of their lives together.

“This was a story I was sad to see end.” — JIM KANAK, Wells

---

Mainers, please email to tell us about the book on your bedside table. In a paragraph or two, describe the book and be sure to tell us what drew you to it. What makes it a can’t-miss read for the rest of us? From memoir to mystery, fantasy to science fiction, history to horror, we want to hear what you are reading and why. Send your selection to pgrodinsky@pressherald.com, and we may use it as a future Bedside Table.

Copy the Story Link