the true story of a young heroine and a lighthouse
Vaughan, Marcia K
1999
A fictionalized account of an incident in the life of a fourteen-year-old girl who tends her family's lighthouse during a fierce storm on the coast of Maine in the winter of 1856.
Thirteen-year-old Elin can't imagine living anywhere but the island off the coast of Maine where her father is lightkeeper, until the night in 1941 when she awakes to the sound of German torpedoes while her parents are on the mainland.
Follows a day in the life of Thomas Knox, keeper of the Boston Light on Little Brewster Island in the late eighteenth-century, describing the history of the lighthouse, and discussing the duties Knox performed.
Tells the true story of Ida Lewis, explaining how she learned to tend a lighthouse from her father, discussing her responsibilities as the lighthouse keeper, and describing her heroic rescues.
In the winter of 1856, a storm delays the lighthouse keeper's return to an island off the coast of Maine, and his daughter Abbie must keep the lights burning by herself.
