1838: when a terrible storm blows up off the Northumberland coast, Grace Darling, the lighthouse-keeper’s daughter, knows there is little chance of survival for the passengers on the small ship battling the waves. But her actions set in motion an incredible feat of bravery that echoes down the century.
1938: when nineteen-year-old Matilda Emmerson sails from across the Atlantic to New England, she faces an uncertain future. Sent away in disgrace, she must stay with her reclusive relative, Harriet Flaherty, a lighthouse keeper on Rhode Island. Once there, Matilda discovers a discarded portrait that opens a window on to a secret that will change her life forever.
Hazel Gaynor is an award-winning, New York Times, USA Today, and Irish Times, bestselling author of historical fiction, including her debut THE GIRL WHO CAME HOME, for which she received the 2015 RNA Historical Novel of the Year award. A MEMORY OF VIOLETS was a WHSmith Fresh Talent pick for spring 2015, THE GIRL FROM THE SAVOY was shortlisted for the 2016 Irish Book Awards, and LAST CHRISTMAS IN PARIS (co-written with Heather Webb) won the 2018 Women's Fiction Writers Association Star Award. THE LIGHTHOUSE KEEPER'S DAUGHTER was shortlisted for the 2019 HWA Gold Crown award, and MEET ME IN MONACO (co-written with Heather Webb) was a finalist in the 2019 Digital World Book Awards for Best Book (Fiction). She is published in thirteen languages and nineteen countries. Hazel is co-founder of creative writing events, The Inspiration Project, and lives in Ireland with her husband and two children.