A young woman answers a cry across the water and loses herself in the echo.
Longstone Lighthouse, 1838.
Grace Darling wakens to the howl of wind screaming over stone and the sight of a ship smashed against the rocks. No stranger to the fury of the sea, she braves the raging waters, risking her life to save nine survivors.
Her valour captures the nation’s heart, and in the aftermath of her daring rescue, she is hailed as a heroine. Painted, praised and relentlessly pursued, Grace is swept out from the shadows of solitude and into the limelight. But fame brings its own tempest, and the lighthouse keeper’s daughter soon finds herself eclipsed by her own legend.
Grace is a haunting portrait of a modest young woman consumed by the voracious gaze of Victorian Britain.
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Helen Steadman
Helen Steadman mostly writes biographical historical fiction (think herbs, healing, witch trials, swords, shipwrecks and lighthouses) set in the north east of England. So far, she’s written the Newcastle Witch Trials Trilogy (Widdershins, Sunwise and Solstice), The Running Wolf (about the Shotley Bridge swordmakers) and Grace (about Grace Darling, the Northumbrian lighthouse keeper’s daughter).
And then – because why not – there’s God of Fire set on Mount Olympus, which is absolutely nowhere near the north east of England.
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