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The Girl from the Lighthouse: A Novel
The Girl From the Lighthouse tells the compelling story of Emma Dobbins. Abandoned by her mother at an early age, she was raised by her father, a lighthouse keeper at Point Conception in California, where early on she discovers her artistic talent. At the age of 17, Emma travels to Paris with a chaperone, to attend art school but is separated from the chaperone when the woman becomes ill. Emma arrives alone in Paris with no money, no language skills, and no friends. A chance meeting with a young working girl in the train station becomes her first Parisian friend. The setting is Paris in the 1860s-70s, the start of the Belle Èpoque. France soon is involved in the Franco/Prussian War and the Commune Uprising; difficult times for Emma and all Frenchmen. Initially rejected by art schools, her determination keeps her moving toward her goal in the art world, where the Impressionists are starting to change the world. Frenchmen fall in love with her beautiful face and lustrous dark hair. Some wanted to paint her, others to court her, but either way, she does not abide by the rules they try to impose on her because she never learned them. She grows into an accomplished artist but never gives up her own principles... even when someone steals something precious to her and she fights to get it back. The story is told in the first person, present tense, allowing the reader to enter the story and feel a part of it as it unfolds, sharing with Emma her highs and lows, loves and rejections, all focused in the art world of Paris. The novel is filled with vivid characters, both fictional and real people, and the story unfolds gracefully from the 1870s until 1912, just prior to the start of WWI
428 pages, Paperback
Published January 31, 2019
About the author
Willard Thompson
34 books143 followersWillard Thompson is an award-winning historical fiction writer, lecturer and historian living in Montecito, California with his wife Jo. His Newest novel, THE GIRL FROM THE LIGHTHOUSE, will be published in March 2019. In it he tells the stroy of a young California girl who goes to Paris during the Belle Epoque to become an artist with the Impressionist painters.
Raised at a desolate California lighthouse by men, when abandoned by her mother, Emma Dobbins was never trained to be a dutiful wife, but at an early age she discovered her rare artistic talent. When she goes to Paris, France, in 1869, Frenchmen fall in love with her beautiful face and lustrous dark hair. Some want to paint her, others to court her, but either way she does not abide by the rules they tried to impose on her.
Emma survived the Siege of Paris during the Franco-Prussian War and the Commune Revolt that followed it. She meet and paints with many of the artists soon to be called The Impressionists. As Paris blossoms into the Belle Époque (Beautiful time) of the 1870s and 80s, Emma grows into an accomplished artist, but never gives up her own principles... even when someone steels something precious to her and she fights to win it back.
His three novels of historical fiction Dream Helper, Delfina's Gold and Their Golden Dreams tell compelling stories related to the three periods of California history--Spanissh, Mexican and Yankee.. The Independent Publishers 2009 Book Awards selected Dream Helper for a gold medal as the best fiction in the Western/Pacific Region.
Thompson is past president of the board of directors of the Santa Barbara Maritime Museum. He is a native of Manhasset, New York and a graduate of Colgate University in Hamilton, New York
Raised at a desolate California lighthouse by men, when abandoned by her mother, Emma Dobbins was never trained to be a dutiful wife, but at an early age she discovered her rare artistic talent. When she goes to Paris, France, in 1869, Frenchmen fall in love with her beautiful face and lustrous dark hair. Some want to paint her, others to court her, but either way she does not abide by the rules they tried to impose on her.
Emma survived the Siege of Paris during the Franco-Prussian War and the Commune Revolt that followed it. She meet and paints with many of the artists soon to be called The Impressionists. As Paris blossoms into the Belle Époque (Beautiful time) of the 1870s and 80s, Emma grows into an accomplished artist, but never gives up her own principles... even when someone steels something precious to her and she fights to win it back.
His three novels of historical fiction Dream Helper, Delfina's Gold and Their Golden Dreams tell compelling stories related to the three periods of California history--Spanissh, Mexican and Yankee.. The Independent Publishers 2009 Book Awards selected Dream Helper for a gold medal as the best fiction in the Western/Pacific Region.
Thompson is past president of the board of directors of the Santa Barbara Maritime Museum. He is a native of Manhasset, New York and a graduate of Colgate University in Hamilton, New York
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
May 28, 2019
Deserted by their wife and mother Emma Dobbins is raised by her father the lighthouse keeper at Point Conception in California. There are three other lighthouse keepers there and after her father's death she must leave her only home she has ever known and make it on her own.
Fascinated with art since an early age when she would sketch everything she saw around her she is thrilled when she receives an invitation to study art in Paris. A lost invitation makes for a sad and lost girl once she arrives in Paris especially since she has no where to live.
Feeling adrift in a sea of business in Paris she can't get into art schools there, men are the only artist they are interested in.
As luck would have it she finds a working class girl that convinces her family to take Emma into their family. She must learn French as coming from America she has no knowledge of the language.
She becomes and accomplished artist.Emma experiences great joys and devastating lows, loves lost and found. You feel as if you are experiencing this right along with Emma, the descriptions are fabulous. From the French baguettes to the fancy French gowns to the magnificent landscape it's all here at your fingertips when you read this.
Published March 20th 2019 by RINCON PUBLISHING.
I was given a complimentary copy of this book. Thank you.
All opinions expressed are my own.
Fascinated with art since an early age when she would sketch everything she saw around her she is thrilled when she receives an invitation to study art in Paris. A lost invitation makes for a sad and lost girl once she arrives in Paris especially since she has no where to live.
Feeling adrift in a sea of business in Paris she can't get into art schools there, men are the only artist they are interested in.
As luck would have it she finds a working class girl that convinces her family to take Emma into their family. She must learn French as coming from America she has no knowledge of the language.
She becomes and accomplished artist.Emma experiences great joys and devastating lows, loves lost and found. You feel as if you are experiencing this right along with Emma, the descriptions are fabulous. From the French baguettes to the fancy French gowns to the magnificent landscape it's all here at your fingertips when you read this.
Published March 20th 2019 by RINCON PUBLISHING.
I was given a complimentary copy of this book. Thank you.
All opinions expressed are my own.
April 24, 2019
I received a copy of this book from NetGalley for a honest review
The Girl from the Lighthouse is not the usual kind of story I like to read but the synopsis intrigued me and so I dived right in. This was such an interesting story, Emma Dobbins grows up in California but ends up in France to pursue her love of art. This story is set in the past and the character Emma meets up and poses for are many of the well know artists we have heard about like Degas, Renoir and others. I loved reading about Emma's life in Paris and other parts of France. I wouldn't really characterize this story as a love story, it is more about a young artist journey and the life she led. Overall the writing kept me entertained at times i felt it could be smoother, I also felt like the ending was a bit rushed but I'm really glad I read this story.
The Girl from the Lighthouse is not the usual kind of story I like to read but the synopsis intrigued me and so I dived right in. This was such an interesting story, Emma Dobbins grows up in California but ends up in France to pursue her love of art. This story is set in the past and the character Emma meets up and poses for are many of the well know artists we have heard about like Degas, Renoir and others. I loved reading about Emma's life in Paris and other parts of France. I wouldn't really characterize this story as a love story, it is more about a young artist journey and the life she led. Overall the writing kept me entertained at times i felt it could be smoother, I also felt like the ending was a bit rushed but I'm really glad I read this story.
April 3, 2019
This was one of those fiction books I really enjoyed reading but also the kind of book that makes you want to look things up and learn more about them. The setting is a sheltered young girl from California with much artistic talent trying to attend an art school in Paris. She very quickly finds that women are not a part of the intellectual society (or so men think) at least not in art. This is the time of the French-Prussian War and as the war ends and she (Emma) begins to meet people and find her way, she also becomes painfully aware of the class sects in Paris. Definitely not something she has experienced in gold rich California.
The descriptive writing of people and places is almost like Jane Austen in this book. Maybe it was the class differences and the cold unacceptance of one group towards another that made me feel this way. The characters here were very real, many a few famous painters you will recognize. There is a certain amount of romantic feeling between them, a feeling of young people courting one another. And yet, the essence most captured is really and truly of history. Even though this is fiction the time of the setting is correct, the late 1800’s, the feeling of Parisians suffering so much from hunger and pain, the classes fighting so much amongst themselves and even a young naïve girl, a girl young enough to know none of the ways of womanhood and yearning to become an artist.
An enjoyable read worth your time.
The descriptive writing of people and places is almost like Jane Austen in this book. Maybe it was the class differences and the cold unacceptance of one group towards another that made me feel this way. The characters here were very real, many a few famous painters you will recognize. There is a certain amount of romantic feeling between them, a feeling of young people courting one another. And yet, the essence most captured is really and truly of history. Even though this is fiction the time of the setting is correct, the late 1800’s, the feeling of Parisians suffering so much from hunger and pain, the classes fighting so much amongst themselves and even a young naïve girl, a girl young enough to know none of the ways of womanhood and yearning to become an artist.
An enjoyable read worth your time.
April 3, 2019
The Girl from the Lighthouse is the first book I have read by Willard Thompson and it definitely will not be the last. I found this historical to be so well written and full of vivid details of the setting and era, that I felt as though I was right there in Paris with Emma. I enjoyed her story.
I give The Girl from the Lighthouse four and a half stars. Readers who love books set in Paris prior to World War I. I recommend it.
I received this book from the author. This review is 100% my own honest opinion.
I give The Girl from the Lighthouse four and a half stars. Readers who love books set in Paris prior to World War I. I recommend it.
I received this book from the author. This review is 100% my own honest opinion.
May 14, 2019
Thank you for Willard Thompson, the publisher, and Netgalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. I was really excited about the premise of the story, especially the time in history. I liked Emma's interaction with various famous artists. However, on the whole, I just thought the book was okay. I struggled to keep reading the book as it did not capture my interest. I read the majority of the book but skipped to the end as I just wanted to find out what happened in the end.
May 15, 2019
This book was one of those books that grab you from the start! This story is set in the 1870s in Paris. This story is such a well-written story that you'll really feel like you are in the book and not just reading words. By far one of the best stories I've read all year
July 22, 2019
Lovers of history, lighthouses, and the struggles of making it in this big world will enjoy this gorgeous novel of a young girl's rises and falls in Paris. I loved the setting and the characters.
Want to Read
April 20, 2019
The Girl from the Lighthouse (Arc) was graciously provided to me by Enticing Journey Book Promotions for an honest review. I will voluntarily read and review this book and provide my honest opinion. Review to follow.
May 29, 2019
The Girl From The Lighthouse – Willard Thompson – 5 Stars
Loved the book – didn’t like the ending. It seemed abrupt and not well thought out like the rest of the book. I guess it had to end somewhere. Emma Dobbins is raised in a lighthouse by her Father, her Mother left when she was 5. She never learned all the rules of living with others that most women just know….what they get from their Mothers. She only attended one year of schooling and she wouldn’t do her studies there. All she wanted to do was her drawing and her art. When her Father died she had to leave the lighthouse. She was headed to Paris with a companion to an Art School, her companion took ill. She had to leave her in a hospital and go into Paris alone without being able to speak the language. She was befriended by a young woman working at the railroad when it came in. She was only 17 then. Although she couldn’t get into an Art School, she lost the paper her companion and written down who she was supposed to contact, so she didn’t know where to go. The schools she tried all said only men make it into our schools. Somehow, she learns the language and lives for a long time at the home of the gal she met at the railroad. She has to leave them as during the outbreak of war no one has enough food or work. She does eventually meet many of the painters who are a part of the impressionist movement. Many want to paint her, many want her body, she just wants to paint but she does what she can to make enough money to practice her craft. The story is well written and well researched. Much of what happened really happened, Emma was really the only part of the story not based on fact. The story sucks you in and you really want to finish it. You learn a lot while following Emma through her story. It was a really great book and I did enjoy it immensely, except for the last few paragraphs at the end. It all though has to end somewhere.
I received this book through NetGalley.com in the ereader format. The hope is that I’ll be willing to give the book a review which I have above and it deserved a very favorable review the book was a really good one!! #NetGalley #TheGirlFromTheLighthouse
The Girl From the Lighthouse tells the compelling story of Emma Dobbins. Abandoned by her mother at an early age, she was raised by her father, a lighthouse keeper at Point Conception in California, where early on she discovers her artistic talent. At the age of 17, Emma travels to Paris with a chaperone, to attend art school but is separated from the chaperone when the chaperone becomes ill. Emma arrives alone in Paris with no money, no language skills, and no friends. A chance meeting with a young working girl in the train station becomes her first Parisian friend. The setting is Paris in the 1860s-70s, the start of the Belle �poque. France soon is involved in the Franco/Prussian War and the Commune Uprising; difficult times for Emma and all Frenchmen. Initially rejected by art schools, her determination keeps her moving toward her goal in the art world, where the Impressionists are starting to change the world. Frenchmen fall in love with her beautiful face and lustrous dark hair. Some wanted to paint her, others to court her, but either way, she does not abide by the rules they try to impose on her. Emma grows into an accomplished artist but never gives up her own principles... even when someone steals something precious to her. The story is told in the first person, present tense, allowing the reader to enter the story and feel a part of it as it unfolds, sharing with Emma her highs and lows, loves and rejections, all focused in the art world of Paris. The novel is filled with vivid characters, both fictional and real people, and the story unfolds gracefully from the 1870s until 1912, just prior to the start of WWI
Loved the book – didn’t like the ending. It seemed abrupt and not well thought out like the rest of the book. I guess it had to end somewhere. Emma Dobbins is raised in a lighthouse by her Father, her Mother left when she was 5. She never learned all the rules of living with others that most women just know….what they get from their Mothers. She only attended one year of schooling and she wouldn’t do her studies there. All she wanted to do was her drawing and her art. When her Father died she had to leave the lighthouse. She was headed to Paris with a companion to an Art School, her companion took ill. She had to leave her in a hospital and go into Paris alone without being able to speak the language. She was befriended by a young woman working at the railroad when it came in. She was only 17 then. Although she couldn’t get into an Art School, she lost the paper her companion and written down who she was supposed to contact, so she didn’t know where to go. The schools she tried all said only men make it into our schools. Somehow, she learns the language and lives for a long time at the home of the gal she met at the railroad. She has to leave them as during the outbreak of war no one has enough food or work. She does eventually meet many of the painters who are a part of the impressionist movement. Many want to paint her, many want her body, she just wants to paint but she does what she can to make enough money to practice her craft. The story is well written and well researched. Much of what happened really happened, Emma was really the only part of the story not based on fact. The story sucks you in and you really want to finish it. You learn a lot while following Emma through her story. It was a really great book and I did enjoy it immensely, except for the last few paragraphs at the end. It all though has to end somewhere.
I received this book through NetGalley.com in the ereader format. The hope is that I’ll be willing to give the book a review which I have above and it deserved a very favorable review the book was a really good one!! #NetGalley #TheGirlFromTheLighthouse
The Girl From the Lighthouse tells the compelling story of Emma Dobbins. Abandoned by her mother at an early age, she was raised by her father, a lighthouse keeper at Point Conception in California, where early on she discovers her artistic talent. At the age of 17, Emma travels to Paris with a chaperone, to attend art school but is separated from the chaperone when the chaperone becomes ill. Emma arrives alone in Paris with no money, no language skills, and no friends. A chance meeting with a young working girl in the train station becomes her first Parisian friend. The setting is Paris in the 1860s-70s, the start of the Belle �poque. France soon is involved in the Franco/Prussian War and the Commune Uprising; difficult times for Emma and all Frenchmen. Initially rejected by art schools, her determination keeps her moving toward her goal in the art world, where the Impressionists are starting to change the world. Frenchmen fall in love with her beautiful face and lustrous dark hair. Some wanted to paint her, others to court her, but either way, she does not abide by the rules they try to impose on her. Emma grows into an accomplished artist but never gives up her own principles... even when someone steals something precious to her. The story is told in the first person, present tense, allowing the reader to enter the story and feel a part of it as it unfolds, sharing with Emma her highs and lows, loves and rejections, all focused in the art world of Paris. The novel is filled with vivid characters, both fictional and real people, and the story unfolds gracefully from the 1870s until 1912, just prior to the start of WWI
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews