I remember a book called Keep the Lights Burning, Abbie by Connie Roop “back in the day”. It was never my favorite book, but I remember it fondly. It was a book about a subject that was the first time I had heard of it. It was about women and lighthouses together and not as the wife of the keeper. Over the years a few more books about lighthouses, lighthouse keeps and female lighthouse keepers came along and found their way to books I had conquered. I’ve written about a few, such as Lighthouse Ladies: Shining a Spotlight on Hardy Heroines by Kris Coronado (written in April 2025). 
However, more recently I found Stories by Sea: A Lighthouse Library’s Journey by Jessica Iwanski and Angela C. Hawkins (illustrated by) (due mid/late September 2026; and read via an online reader) and The Light Keepers by Amy June Bates, due January 2027, also read via online reader. I don’t know about you, but I knew about the librarians on horseback who delivered to the more rural areas of the country, but did not know that there were librarians on whaleback… Or actually ships! Now, women are not the lighthouse keepers, but the fact it was a piece of history we probably were not aware of and plays into the unknown women’s history of lighthouses. We learn about these ships in a mixed fiction and non-fiction book, Stories by the Sea. Iwanski and Hawkins give us how these ships delivered the goods keepers and families needed, but also how the books were read, loved and shared. And since I feel it is more beneficial to experience things on your own, I will say that there is not a lot of action but there is plenty of excitement. The images are well done, calm and stormy all at once. There are good details, a cozy atmosphere and allows you to wonder about things.
The Light Keepers is a bit different as it has the action of a hurricane, a young woman as the lightkeeper and a real pup of a pal. Things are not nonfiction, but you can imagine how a storm would have been handled by the lightkeeper, what it could do to not only the ships, but the lighthouse and keeper, and have the daring rescue (which I have heard of women doing) of sailors in a wreck. The book feels and looks like a dark, windy, wild storm itself. Grays and darker colors, minimal details creating a background that supports what is up front. And of course, the use of “light” (the yellows and reds work to show the emotion). It is a bit more simple, less crowded text, both work for most readers who are listening, though Stories by Sea is a bit longer and more dense textwise.
