The beloved bestseller that will shine in your heart forever... From the acclaimed author of The Last Valentine comes an unforgettable story about family, loss, and eternal love. Bestselling writer James Michael Pratt once again touches our emotions and our spirit as only a great writer can... Ten-year-old Peter O'Banyon's life changes forever when his family dies in an accident. Orphaned, he goes to live with his garrulous Uncle Billie, the keeper of the Port Hope Island Lighthouse in Massachusetts. There, as the beacon leads sailors home, Peter learns an astonishing truth about Billie's past-- and the power of love. This message guides Peter's life, even when World War II's brutality rocks his faith, even when he returns to his young bride and an unimaginable tragedy. Now, in the final days of his own life, Peter needs to pass on the lighthouse keeper's secrets to his own daughter, but to do it may take nothing less than a miracle... Off the coast of Massachusetts, a sturdy lighthouse and its inhabitants weather the storms of life. Over three generations, the O'Banyon clan finds solace in the firm walls of the Port Hope lighthouse, and learns to "keep a light on" for each other. In the present day, daughter Kathleen O'Banyon returns to be with her aging father, Peter, in the now retired lighthouse. As Peter reminisces about the past and his childhood with Uncle Billie, we are drawn into a family saga full of tragedy and inspiration. Through two world wars, illness, and premature deaths, the O'Banyon family has learned to trust and love fearlessly. As the characters and the readers soon learn, to be a good lighthouse keeper you must take care of not only those you love, but the "light inside yer bosom," as well. Not for the schmaltz-allergic crowd, this nostalgic feast of emotion and sincerity could warm up your heart on an arctic vacation. Like Nicholas Sparks, James Michael Pratt knows where the heartstrings are, and plays them with all the subtlety of Tchaikovsky. But go ahead--no one is watching. Pull up the covers and let the sappiness seduce you! --Nancy R.E. O'Brien A child whose parents are killed in a car accident goes to live with his uncle, "the lighthouse keeper." From the author of The Last Valentine. Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. In the twilight of his life, Peter O'Banyon looks out from the Massachusetts lighthouse that was his home and remembers the past. Orphaned at age 10, he came to the Port Hope Lighthouse to live with his uncle Billie. A solitary man, Billie had worked hard to amass a fortune and returned to Ireland with his wife and son, only to lose them. His son died in the influenza epidemic, and his wife drowned on the voyage back to the U.S. When Peter lost his family in a car accident, Uncle Billie took him in and taught him what it meant to be a lightkeeper and how to handle himself throughout life's crises. At 19, Peter married his childhood sweetheart before going off to fight in World War II. He survived the tragedies of war, but, like Billie before him, lost his wife. In this worthy successor to The Last Valentine (1998), Pratt once again presents a tale that goes straight to the heart and brings tears to the eyes. Patty Engelmann Best-selling Pratts second is sweetly sincere but less affecting than his first (The Last Valentine, 1998) in detailing two generations of Irish-American men learning to endure loss. Ranging in place from Ireland to wartime Italy and an island near Nantucket, the story of Billie O Banyon and his nephew Peter is told in flashbacks as the dying Peter visits Port Hope lighthouse for the last time. The lighthouse has served not only as a warning to ships but as a metaphorical beacon of hope for men who have found consolation either working the light, as Uncle Billie did, or visiting it later, like Peter. Accompanied by his only daughter, Kathleen, Peter tells how Uncle Billie immigrated to America, married Katie, served in the merchant Navy in WWI, and, having saved his money, returned to Ireland with Katie and their only child. But both Katie and child died in the postwar influenza epidemic, and a grieving Billie returned to America, where he found solace minding the lighthouse. In the early 1930s, hes joined by young Peter, the only survivor of a fiery car crash that killed all of Peters family. The younger man keeps up Billies logbook and now tells Kathleen that it contains a legacy, the secret to ageless contentment and ageless love. Peter tells his own story, how he married Anna before setting off to fight, survived the war though losing his best buddies, and came back to the lighthouse to visit with Anna and their infant daughter Kathleen. More tragedy awaits him, but once more he survives it, buoyed by Uncle Billies messagethat keeping the light of love bright makes life endurablea message that, in turn, will later sustain Kathleen. Heartfelt but too message-drivenand thus uncompellingto bring out the Kleenex. (Liter