Lighthousekeeping tells the tale of Silver ( My mother called me Silver. I was born part precious metal, part pirate. ), an orphaned girl who is taken in by blind Mr. Pew, the mysterious and miraculously old keeper of a lighthouse on the Scottish coast. Pew tells Silver stories of Babel Dark, a nineteenth-century clergyman. Dark lived two lives: a public one mired in darkness and deceit and a private one bathed in the light of passionate love. For Silver, Dark's life becomes a map through her own darkness, into her own story, and, finally, into love.
One of the most original and extraordinary writers of her generation, Jeanette Winterson has created a modern fable about the transformative power of storytelling.
PRAISE FOR LIGHTHOUSEKEEPING
Hypnotic . . . Atmospheric and elusive, Winterson's high-modernist excursion is an inspired meditation on myth and language.
-THE NEW YORKER
A luminous retelling of the Tristan-Isolde legend and an account of the grown-up Silver's pursuit of love . . . Winterson weaves a beautiful and coherent tapestry . . . She achieves a quality that justly can be called visionary. -LOS ANGELES TIMES
JEANETTE WINTERSONis the author of several works of fiction, essays, and, most recently, a children's picture book. Her numerous awards include the Whitbread First Novel Award, the John Llewelyn Rhys Prize, and the E. M. Forster Award. She lives in Oxfordshire and London.