The Island Adventures of Paul Stedman

Overview

The Island Adventures of Paul Stedman is a rare glimpse into a childhood spent at a lighthouse during the Great Depression. Young Stedman lived with his lighthouse keeper grandfather on Rose Island in Narragansett Bay within view of Newport Rhode Island. The book is based on diaries and first-hand accounts from Stedman that he shared later in life. The book is unique in that it features historical fiction interspersed with history of the era, brought to life through rare archival photos, news accounts, and beautiful original paintings and illustrations. This is the second book of The Rose Island Lighthouse series and was lovingly created by Rhode Island author Lynne Heinzmann in concert with the Rose Island Lighthouse Foundation. The book includes information about the rigors of daily life on an island, and historic information about the lighthouse and its spectacular Fresnel lens.

Reviews

"In The Curious Childhood of Wanton Chase, Lynne Heinzmann has created a charming hybrid, with chapters of alternating non-fiction and fiction, telling both the historical details of lighthouses on the New England coast at the beginning of the 20th century supplemented by the imagined inner life of a boy, Wanton Chase, who grew up on Rose Island, off shore from Newport, Rhode Island. This well-crafted book is as enchanting as it is informative and will surely engage young readers, as will the sweet watercolor illustrations and historic photographs." —Peter N. Nelson Author of I Thought You Were Dead and A More Unbending Battle: The Harlem Hellfighters' Struggle for Freedom in WWI and Equality at Home

Author Biography

Rhode Island author Lynne Heinzmann's historical novel Frozen Voices won the 2016 Fairfield University Book Prize. Her lighthouse books series grew out of a meeting with the Rose Island Lighthouse Foundation and their desire to share the wondrous history of the lighthouse and its people.