posted on 08 May 2025

Becoming Grace by Hilary McKay, illustrated by Keith Robinson

“Grace Darling was one of the Victorian era’s most celebrated heroines. On 7 September 1838, she risked her life to rescue the stranded survivors of the wrecked steamship Forfarshire, a feat of bravery which changed her life dramatically.

Her extraordinary act of bravery became internationally known, making front page news and even reaching Queen Victoria. Both Grace and her father were awarded medals for their bravery. 

Sadly Grace died 4 years later, aged 26, on 20 October 1842. Her funeral was a grand occasion, with hundreds of people crowding the little village of Bamburgh to say goodbye. Grace is still remembered for her courageous actions, and the bravery she demonstrated that night continues to inspire the values we hold today.”

(RNLB website https://rnli.org/about-us/our-history/timeline/1838-grace-darling)

The story of Grace Darling has become one which encapsulates the notion of selfless heroics in the face of unrelenting and ferocious natural danger. Paintings and illustrations in comics and magazines would frequently feature the embattled young girl in a rowing boat, pulling on the oars as she battles through waves heading for the boat wrecked on the rocks, intent on saving the survivors.

This is also the image Keith Robinson uses for the front cover illustration of Hilary McKay’s latest book for younger readers, Becoming Grace. This is the imagined story of the childhood of Grace and what her life was like before that fateful day in 1838 when she was just 22.

We join Grace and her big family – nine children with their mother and a father who was the local lighthouse keeper – as she takes her first tentative steps in getting to grips with managing a boat on the sea. Her brothers try to teach her how to manage the oars but at first it’s all a bit of a struggle. 

Grace loves to take her turn to leave the lighthouse and visit her grandfather in the village on the mainland but she’s always nervous of the boat ride. Then, on one visit her grandfather gives her a puppy dog to ensure she doesn’t get lonely and the dog - she calls him Happy - will be her constant companion.

The lighthouse Grace and her family live in and keep working is a really valuable thing for those at sea who want to avoid the rocks around the coast but, sometimes, the light isn’t seen until its too late and there are still too many accidents. A decision is made to build a new lighthouse further out to sea where the light will be seen earlier and more prominently. 

As the children grow and leave the lighthouse for lives on land, Grace continues to master the rowing boat and bit by bit – with the special help of her brother Job – she becomes more and more proficient. But there’s tragedy when Job dies young and it hits Grace’s mother especially hard – so Grace has to step up and be her father’s main help in the new lighthouse.

And then comes the fateful day when a raging storm and the paddle steamer Forfarshire carrying passengers came together with terrible results and it was time for Grace to step forward…

Available now from Barrington Stoke – who specialise in books for reluctant young readers of all kinds – and you can get a copy from your local independent bookshop. They will be happy to order you a copy if they don’t have one on the shelves.

 

Terry Potter

May 2025