Light Years: A Memoir of a Modern Lighthouse Keeper

Novelist Woodward's account of her time as a lighthouse keeper argues successfully for the importance of keeping personnel in remote locations as lifelines for seafaring communities everywhere, but the audience may be narrow for a book that soberly conveys the monotony and solitude of lighthouse work, sprinkles the account with simplistic political criticism, and concludes with humorless self-congratulation. Woodward was attracted to the quiet and solitude promised by the life of a lighthouse keeper, and in 2007 she left her day job so that she could work with her husband as a lighthouse keeper on Lennard Island, a small island on the Canadian West Coast. Much of the book is a journal of the author's life, which will mostly be of interest to readers familiar with her other books (Disturbing the Peace, etc.). Interspersed between Woodward's descriptions of the work of lighthouse keeping %E2%80%94building maintenance, sea sampling, radio communications%E2%80%94and her meditations on gardening on the island are reflections on her previous experiences growing up on a family farm, writing, working in publishing and as a bookseller. A reading list for readers' own lighthouse libraries suggests Woodward believes readers will share her fascination with this life. (Oct.)