The idea to write a novel about Grace Darling first came to me a number of years ago, but as with every idea it needed time to percolate while I figured out how to tell her story and if, indeed, I should be the one to write it.
The answer to that particular question came in the summer of 2016 while visiting my sister in Northumberland. She took me to Barter Books, an enormous and very wonderful secondhand bookshop in Alnwick. Because Grace had lived in the area, I wondered if I might find something about her there, but where to even begin looking in the biggest secondhand bookshop in Europe? As I turned to a shelf to my right just inside the door, I saw a small green book, the title so faded I could barely read it. I picked it up. Why? Who knows? The book was called Grace Darling—The Heroine of the Farne Isles, published in 1875. I always say the story finds the writer, and this, surely, was a sign. That ancient little book was the start of The Lighthouse Keeper’s Daughter.
I’ve always believed that historical novelists have a responsibility to not only portray the historical facts authentically, but to do justice to the people they choose to write about. To add emotion, words, and color to often emotionless black-and-white facts recorded in history books and biographies is both a challenge and a privilege, and I especially felt this responsibility in writing Grace’s story. Although Grace was written about very widely at the time of her famous rescue, the more I read about her, the more I felt that we only saw a one-dimensional version of her: that of the classic Victorian heroine. As a novelist, I wanted to dig deeper to know who Grace really was. I wanted to walk in her shoes and live her days in the confined spaces of her lighthouse home. I wanted to know what she thought about in the privacy of her bedroom because Grace wasn’t just a heroine, she was a young woman with thoughts and feelings and desires. When I discovered a tantalizing suggestion that she had formed a romantic relationship with a young man from the area, possibly one of the artists who visited her at Longstone to paint her portrait, I was intrigued. Grace Darling in love? Now there was a story to tell.
As always, research was very important to me, not just to understand the events of 1838 to 1842, but to understand who Grace was before the Forfarshire disaster, and who she was behind the scrutiny of the public’s gaze. My research and writing often take me away from my family in one way or another, but I also try to take them with me on my journey of discovery. This particular book saw the four of us become temporary lighthouse keepers during a weekend stay at Wicklow Head lighthouse in Ireland. We also traveled to the Farne Islands. To step inside Grace’s lighthouse on Longstone Island, stand in her bedroom, climb the steps to the lantern, and walk along the rocks and beaches where she spent her life was very emotional. A trip to Bamburgh to see the wonderful Grace Darling Museum, her monument at St. Aidan’s church, and Horsley Cottage, where Grace died, was also a wonderful source of fact, inspiration, and connection to this extraordinary woman.
But Grace was not alone. I was intrigued when I discovered another female light keeper, Ida Lewis, who became known as America’s Grace Darling. It was this connection between the two women that led to part of The Lighthouse Keeper’s Daughter taking place in Newport, Rhode Island, and to me reading more widely about the generations of women who kept the lights in America. Their stories are absolutely fascinating and inspired the character of Harriet Flaherty.
Some of the place names referred to in the book are now spelled differently, or known by a different name, particularly Harker’s Rock (now known as Big Harcar) and North Sunderland (now known as Seahouses). Where possible, I have remained faithful to the known events of the time line of the Forfarshire disaster and the aftermath, and to the locations Grace visited. Any historical errors are entirely my own.
Sarah Dawson and her children were actual passengers on the Forfarshire, the children tragically lost as described in the book. However, Sarah’s story following the rescue, and that of her fictional brother, George Emmerson, are a product of my imagination. It is believed that there was a George who had a romantic connection with Grace, and George Emmerson appears in a footnote of the book Grace Darling by Hugh Cunningham. It was too intriguing a connection to ignore! All the characters in the 1938 narrative are entirely fictitious (apart from Ida Lewis), and although Rose Island lighthouse does exist in Newport, Rhode Island, I have imagined the people and events there. The devastating hurricane of 1938 which hit the area without warning on September 21, 1938, did happen as written, with huge loss of life.
I hope that this book might inspire readers to learn more about Grace Darling, Ida Lewis, and the history of female light keepers. The following books were invaluable to me during my research, and may be of interest: Grace Darling: Victorian Heroine by Hugh Cunningham; Women Who Kept the Lights: An Illustrated History of Female Lighthouse Keepers by Mary Louise Clifford and J. Candace Clifford; Grace Had an English Heart: The Story of Grace Darling, Heroine and Victorian Superstar by Jessica Mitford; and The Lighthouse Keeper’s Daughter: The Remarkable True Story of American Heroine Ida Lewis by Lenore Skomal. Grace Darling, Her True Story written by Thomasin Darling was another fascinating and invaluable source of research and insight into Grace’s life. I also drew from Britain’s Working Coast in Victorian and Edwardian Times by John Hannavy and the fascinating How to Read Water: Clues and Patterns from Puddles to the Sea by Tristan Gooley.