Keep the Lights Burning Abbie Author:Peter Roop, Connie Roop, Peter E. Hanson (Illustrator) In the winter of 1856, a storm delays the lighthouse keeper's return to an island off the coast of Maine, and his daughter Abbie must keep the lights burning by herself. — Day after day the storm raged. Abbie had never tended the lighthouse by herself before. Many lives depended on her. While her father was delayed in town, Abbie also had to ... more »care for her younger sisters and her sick mother. Based on the true story of Abbie Burgess, who, in 1856, single-handedly kept the lighthouse lit during a tremendous storm off the coast of Maine.