ABOUT THE BOOK

Ruth Edgett talks about A Watch in the Night


Why did you write A Watch in the Night?
It started out as a project to preserve my mother’s family history for posterity, but as soon as I saw the accounts my grandfather, my mother, aunts and uncles had written about their lives with the Pomquet Island light, I knew we had something very special.

What made it special?
Each member of the family had a completely different view of what life was like on Pomquet Island, yet they shared so many common experiences. Some of them were dangerous, some were heartbreaking, and some were just plain funny. I thought we could show readers these experiences through the eyes of the people who lived them. I knew if we did that, people would come away with more than knowledge about what the Nova Scotia lighthouse life was like; they would come away knowing it actually felt like. This is what makes A Watch in the Night different than other books about Atlantic Canada lighthouses.

How did you write this book?
Very slowly and very carefully. Even though I had the written memoirs of seven people, and I still had access to six of them (my mother, brothers and sisters are all still living), great care was required to maintain truth in the stories, and to ensure their authenticity. This required historical, technical and geographical research. And, just to be safe, I ran drafts by all of the brothers and sisters. This helped keep the details accurate and authentic, and it helped protect them from surprises in the finished product.

How long did it take to write it?
It took about five years, from the time I decided to be serious about writing a book that could be submitted to a publisher, until the time it appeared on store shelves in May of 2007. But, I had been toying with the stories and the research for a few years before that. I did not work on the book full-time until the last few months of the process. (I’ve always been more productive when facing deadlines.)

Did you enjoy writing A Watch in the Night?
I loved writing this book! I’ve read somewhere that a writer must care about his/her characters in order to write well. I love these characters. Truly. They are members of my family, and it was such a privilege to be able to pretend I was in their skins, seeing the world the way they saw it. It gave me a completely different perspective on each of my grandparents, aunts, uncles—and of course my mother. They were very gracious in allowing me to play “fast and loose” with their lives in these stories. I think we all feel closer to each other for having done this.

What was most important to you as you wrote?
My goal throughout the writing was to be true to the family and to the events that actually happened. Even though the stories in the book are fictionalized, they are based on things that really happened, and it was very important that the stories in the book have a truthful quality, even if they were not—strictly speaking—true. This meant giving a warts-and-all view of the Millars’ life on Pomquet Island, even if that meant showing the harder side of my grandfather, or the pain and loneliness felt by some of his children, or the less-than-romantic side of living with no running water or electricity.

What surprised you most?
My greatest surprise—and the greatest satisfaction too—is hearing glowing reports from people from all walks of life who have read this book and loved it. I’ve been told by people who don’t usually read much at all, who aren’t particularly interested in lighthouses, by men, women and young people, that they truly loved reading A Watch in the Night. So many people have told me that they’ve passed it on to friends or family. This, I believe is a great honour. It doesn’t help book sales, but I know what it means when I pass on a book to someone else. I only do this if a book moves me in some way. So, I’m truly honoured when someone says they’ve passed A Watch in the Night along.

Will there be more books?
I certainly hope so. I’m working on number two right now, there’s another on the back burner, and I’ve got great ideas for a few more after that.