Customer Reviews

Island Lighthouse Inn: A Chronicle

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

What a lovely, sweet book! I flew through it, enjoying every minute of it and wishing there were more! I agree with a previous reviewer that it should be published in quality paperback. I also would love to see a sequel from the author that goes into more depth and detail about their life as innkeepers in such a unique setting. I'm sure there are many more funny and heartwarming anecdotes about guests, as well as more trials and tribulations about their choice and experience of this life. It is my desire for greater depth that lead me to give it four rather than five stars. The recipes seem great (I have not tried any yet), although Judi sure seems to have a penchant for sour cream! Read this book and enjoy an armchair vacation!

This book chronicles the establishment, by Jeffrey Burke and his wife, of an the Keeper's House Inn, next to an old lighthouse in Maine on Isle au Haut, seven miles off the coast, with the only link to *civilization* being the daily mail boat.

With no experience and little money, the Burkes took a giant leap of faith when they decided to open this establishment. The book details many of the obstacles they had to overcome and how they dealt with them.

It is such an interesting story of ingenuity, especially how they managed to get water (having a well pounded, not drilled); survived without any electricity (except for a generator that was only sufficient for running the mini sewage-treatment facility); used a 60-year old gas-powered refrigerator; and painted the 796 windowpanes in the inn and lighthouse.

The vignettes about the guests and some of the local characters were both amusing and insightful.

Each of the 21 chapters ends with one of the inn's recipes and the book is illustrated with delightful engravings by a Maine artist. I really enjoyed this book and have bought it several times to give as a gift.

As a former guest of The Keeper's House, I found reading about the history of the inn extremely interesting. Jeff and Judi seem to be among the few who were willing to take a chance and open this very unusual inn. No wonder the guests described in this book are as fascinating as the innkeepers.

I read this book as an ex-innkeeper and found it quite enjoyable. Jeffrey Burke does reveal himself as somewhat of a "crabby" person and I kept wondering what his wife thought of each episode. I suspect she is the easy-going wife/innkeeper. I do think the book should be put into quality paperback and it would then have a great audience among inn guests and innkeepers. I would definitely recommend it to friends.

This is a lovely little book, with beautiful illustrations and recipes. I very much enjoyed the descriptions of renovating and running the inn and life on the island ... but the author kept going off on tangents about the evils of war, the government, etc!

I read this book twice last year before visiting The Keeper's House. Now that I've been to their fantastic inn, I'm reading it again. It's a great way to revisit and remember the wonderful times we had there. The recipes at the end of each chapter are very good--I've made several of them. I highly recommend this book (and the Inn!) to anyone with a sense of adventure and romance.