Search - The Lighthouse Keeper

The interweaving of stories of two generations made this fairly simple book much more interesting. This was a great weekend/beach read that could be put down when necessary but I really didn't want to do so.

Ten-year-old Peter O'Banyon's life changes forever when his family dies in an accident. Orphaned, he goes to live with his garrulous Uncle Billie, the keeper of the Port Hope Island Lighthouse in Massachusetts. There, as the beacon leads sailors safely home, Peter learns an astonishing truth about Billie's past - and the power of love. This message guides Peter's life, even when World War II's brutality rocks his faith, even when he returns to his young bride and an unimaginable tragedy. Now, in the final days of his own life, Peter needs to pass on the lighthouse keeper's secrets to his own daughter, but to do it may take nothing less than a miracle.... (from back cover)

Story of the human spirit & the power of love.

This was a very enjoyable book with some discrepancies. For instance, in 1949, Kathleen would have been 6 years old, not 4. And, at first, it says that Uncle Billie told Anna about his wife and children. Then, later, it says that Peter wrote her about it in a letter. And, it says that Alexander was Billie's firstborn son, when he actually was the second born son and third born child.
It wasn't very clear what happened to Billie's property in Ireland. Did he hire people to care for it? No one in the family ever went back to it.

I wasn't sure why the author would make Uncle Billie, a man in his fifties, out to be an old man.

I didn't care for the interactions with General Patton. I've never liked it when an author has a real person interacting with fictional characters, giving the real person actions and words that never happened.

But, other than those few things, this is a very good book. It is the story of much heartache, but valiantly overcoming grief and finding a greater purpose.