The Lighthouse Keeper's Daughter

Gaynor's latest novel (after The Cottingley Secret and Last Christmas in Paris) revolves around three women and the choices they make. Grace Darling is the daughter of the keeper of the Longstone Lighthouse in England. In 1838, Grace and her father rescue Sarah Dawson from a shipwreck and are at the center of a storm of unwanted fame. Sarah's artist brother George Emmerson is drawn to Grace by more than her heroics, although he is engaged to another. A century later, Matilda Emmerson, unwed and pregnant at 19, is banished from Ireland to Newport, RI. She's chaperoned by Harriet Flaherty, an enigmatic relative, who has her own secrets. Told from multiple points of view, the story slowly reveals the connections among the main characters. Gaynor uses rich language and metaphors to convey the inner lives of the women through their experiences suffused with tragedy.