Jean Pendziwol

SHORTLISTED FOR THE HWA DEBUT CROWN 2018 *** A RADIO 2 BOOK CLUB PICK *** 'A perfect hammock read for those who love the Brontë sisters and Jodi Picoult in equal measure' PUBLISHERS WEEKLY Elizabeth grew up in a lighthouse, inseparable from her enigmatic twin sister Emily. Their father, the lightkeeper, kept a journal of his observations and their daily life. When those journals are discovered on a shipwrecked boat, many decades later, Elizabeth is living in a retirement home and her eyesight is failing. She enlists the help of a troubled teenager, Morgan, to read to her, and an unlikely friendship grows between the two. But as Morgan reads on, Elizabeth discovers that the past revealed is not as she remembers it, and that the journal may contain answers to unexplained events that have haunted her all her life . . .

A Radio 2 Book Club Choice

The Lightkeeper's Daughters

Jean E. Pendziwol

“Jean Pendziwol’s beautifully written novel captured me from the very first page. Its descriptions of the windswept lightkeeper’s station of Elizabeth’s and Emily’s youth are so crisply rendered I felt I was standing on its shores watching the great ships cross the stormy waters of Lake Superior. Even more than its vivid evocation of a unique time and place, The Lightkeeper's Daughters is a sensitive and moving examination of the nature of identity, the importance of family, and the possibility of second chances." --Heather Young, author of The Lost Girls 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.

A Novel

Krystyna 

I really loved this book! This is a wonderful story told in dual perspectives. The book has two settings, one is current day and the other is a historical setting taking place from the 1920s to 1940s. The two main characters are Elizabeth and Morgan. 

Elizabeth is an elderly lady residing in a retirement home and Morgan is a delinquent teenager who got caught defacing the property of the retirement home. As a consequence of her actions, she is required to do some community service and repaint the fence. Morgan has a rough past, after her grandfather passed away when she was a young child, whom was caring for her, she has been bounced around from one foster home to the next. 

Elizabeth is a resident at the retirement home and is quite a character (I loved her). She is losing her vision and is almost completely blind so when Morgan is unable to work on the fence due to bad weather, she ends up coming into contact with Elizabeth. Elizabeth had came into possession of her father's journals and needs someone to read them to her. She was trying to help Morgan from getting into further trouble and roped her into reading the journals aloud. This is where the relationship of the main characters takes off and develops into something beautiful. 

There are a lot of family secrets, mystery, and intrigue surrounding the life of Elizabeth and the connection she has to Morgan. I loved all of the plot twists, some of which I didn't see coming at all. The story is told in three different parts. The first part is setting up the story and getting the reader pretty involved on what is happening. The second part is basically where the historical fiction aspect of this story really starts to take place. 

I loved learning about Elizabeth's childhood and her family. I loved learning about her relationship with her twin sister, Emily. I loved other characters from Elizabeth's past, as well. I really liked her father. I liked Charlie, even though he upset me at times, but was redeemable and had reasoning behind his actions. I also really liked David. I didn't care too much for the mother, Lil, I found her to be too cold, distant, and unattached, in my opinion. 

I really enjoyed discovering all of the family secrets from the journals and the stories that Elizabeth shared with Morgan. I loved discovering the connection between these characters. This is definitely more of a character driven story, which normally I don't tend to gravitate towards. But, lately I have been. This is a story that will definitely stick with me for a long time and one that I'll continuously think about. This book is written so well and it has some great quotes that I had to take note of. 

I found myself not wanting to put this book down, I just wanted to keep turning the pages so I could discover all of the secrets, especially toward the end of the book. I loved the relationship that developed between Elizabeth and Morgan and I loved learning about Elizabeth's past and the characters that were a part of her past. I really enjoyed seeing Morgan develop from the beginning to the end of the novel. 

The author's note stated that she was inspired by actual events and journals; however, she took her own liberties to fictionalize it. I thought that was pretty cool and I think it is awesome that the journals that inspired some of this story are on display in a museum. 

I definitely plan on buying myself a copy of this book to have in my own collection. If you enjoy reading stories about family secrets and enjoy historical fiction, I cannot recommend this one enough.

"Jean Pendziwol’s beautifully written novel captured me from the very first page. Its descriptions of the windswept lightkeeper’s station of Elizabeth’s and Emily’s youth are so crisply rendered I felt I was standing on its shores watching the great ships cross the stormy waters of Lake Superior. Even more than its vivid evocation of a unique time and place, The LightKeeper's Daughters is a sensitive and moving examination of the nature of identity, the importance of family, and the possibility of second chances."—Heather Young, author of The Lose Girls With the haunting atmosphere and emotional power of The Language of Flowers, Orphan Train, and The Light Between Oceans, critically acclaimed children’s author Jean E. Pendziwol’s adult debut is an affecting story of family, identity, and art that involves a decades-old mystery. 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, especially her beloved twin sister, Emily. When her late father’s journals are discovered after an accident, the past suddenly becomes all too present. With the help of Morgan, a delinquent teenager performing community service at her senior home, 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 and raised his young family 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 will shake the foundation of everything Elizabeth thinks she knows and bring the secrets of the past into the light.

Laura

This was kind of an impulse purchase, fueled by a Barnes and Noble gift card and an absolutely glowing Goodreads review. Well, I'm happy I didn't actually pay any money for it.

First things first, this book is not well written. It feels like a self-published novel, mostly due to how amateur the language was. Both Morgan and Elizabeth felt like cliches- the rebellious teenager and the wise old woman who sees the good in her, along with their strange connection. I was also annoyed by the extremely amateurish way Pendziwol added suspense to the novel, with every chapter ending with something like "but there was more to come" or something else along the same mystery-baiting lines. The writing isn't straight-up bad or comedy-bad, it's just amateurish and feels more like a first draft than the finished novel.

The characters are stunted by the writing. Morgan and Elizabeth could have been interesting characters, key word could have been, if it wasn't for the flat writing. Although, I'm not entirely sure that the characters biggest problem was the writing. I've seen many variates on both characters, mostly on writing websites like Wattpad. They're very one note, and not realistic at all.

One of the comparisons I saw that worked in this novel's favor was its comparison to a Jodi Picoult novel. I am not a big Picoult fan, but her books are easy to read and also you know what you're getting when you read one of her books. She's not a great technical writer, but she knows how to entertain you. These two do not compare well at all. If Picoult wrote this book, it wouldn't be the best book in the world, but it would be a solid 7 out of 10 or 3 stars. 

The best part of the book is the story, and also the fact that it's about lighthouses. I love lighthouses. But again, the story got bogged down by the writing. The manufactured suspense did not work in the story's favor. That and the fact that all the twists were absolutely inane. 

So basically, skip this one. The writing isn't even worth the price of your library card. I didn't hate it, but I didn't enjoy it at all.

Continue reading this review on my blog here: https://bookwormbasics.blogspot.com/2...

The Lightkeeper's Daughters A Radio 2 Book Club Choice

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