Imagine living your life perched on a tiny island, without electricity, exposed to the fury of the sea, and always at the service of the mariner. This is how lightkeepers and their families spent their lives, even up until the 1960s. We are very close to losing the last of the people who lived this isolated life and experienced the heyday of lightkeeping in Canada. Lighthouse Legacies lets us share in the memories of those who kept the lights.

These stories are presented largely in the words of the people, with context and history by author Chris Mills. Each chapter deals with an element of lighthouse life and is complemented by photos from lighthouse family collections, the Coast Guard and Mills' own collection.

Chris Mills built his first lighthouse when was six years old. At the age of twenty-four, he landed his first three-week job as a relief assistant keeper on Cross Island, near Lunenburg. Three weeks turned into nine years on eleven lighthouses in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and British Columbia. Chris now works part time as a deckhand on a Coast Guard lifeboat and as a radio news announcer in Halifax. He lives in Ketch Harbour, NS, with his wife and daughter.

Chris Mills' profile page

• Runner-up, IPPY Award Regional Non-Fiction