Author: M.L. Stedman
Publisher: Scribner
Publication Year: 2012
Language: English
Format: Hardback
Pages: 343
A captivating, beautiful, and stunningly accomplished debut novel that opens in 1918 Australia - the story of a lighthouse keeper and his wife who make one devastating choice that forever changes two worlds.
Australia, 1926. After four harrowing years fighting on the Western Front, Tom Sherbourne returns home to take a job as the lighthouse keeper on Janus Rock, nearly half a day's journey from the coast. To this isolated island, where the supply boat comes once a season and shore leaves are granted every other year at best, Tom brings a young, bold, and loving wife, Isabel. Years later, after two miscarriages and one stillbirth, the grieving Isabel hears a baby's cries on the wind. A boat has washed up onshore carrying a dead man and a living baby.
Tom, whose records as a lighthouse keeper are meticulous and whose moral principles have withstood a horrific war, wants to report the man and infant immediately. But Isabel has taken the tiny baby to her breast. Against Tom's judgment, they claim her as their own and name her Lucy. When she is two, Tom and Isabel return to the mainland and are reminded that there are other people in the world. Their choice has devastated one of them.
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Tom Sherbourne used to fight at war. After returning home, he took a job as the lighthouse keeper on Janus Rock. Before being posted there, he met a woman named Isabel. Then they continue to communicate even after Tom was posted on Janus Rock. Their relationship grows and they got married. Tom and Isabel were trying to build a life away from society on Janus Rock. Unfortunately, Isabel had three miscarriages. The miscarriages and being isolated make life difficult for Isabel, until a boat washed up onshore carrying a baby and a dead man. Clouded by grief, the couple made a decision that would change their lives forever.
The Light between Oceans is a historical fiction book set in a fictional Janus Rock island in Australia. Even though it’s a fictional island, Stedman did a good job in describing the island to the readers. She described the landscape vividly and her writing is so atmospheric that sometimes I felt like I was in the island with them which I love. The scenery description is beautiful and gives out calm and relaxing tone to the story.
In contrast, the conflict in this book is stressful and frustrating. In it we have Tom and Isabel who planned to build their little family together in their own world in Janus Rock. Instead, Isabel had three miscarriages. Going through that while away from her family and the rest of the world couldn’t be easy. When she was losing hope, a boat carrying a baby and a dead man washed up on Janus Rock. Thinking that she was saving the baby, she told Tom to take the baby as their own and not report it to the government. Tom’s conscience telling him that it’s wrong, but the tragedy and his love for his wife made him justified his action.
The Sherbournes lives became complicated when they visited Isabel’s hometown and found out the truth about the baby. Tom was conflicted between telling the biological mother of the baby or not. Is it the right thing to give the baby back to the biological mother? Or is it better to keep the baby? After all they saved and cared for the baby. Besides, taking the baby from Isabel would her feel like she lost four children. What really is the right thing to do in that situation? This is the kind of question being posed throughout the book. Deciding what’s right or wrong is difficult for Tom because he’s such a loyal husband, but his guilt for surviving the war influenced his view to always try to do the right thing. But then again, what is the right thing to do?
The Lights between Oceans is not a book that I usually pick up on my own. I was interested in this book after reading reviews of it and most of them said it’s worth to read. Beware that The Lights between Oceans is a heart wrenching story so if you’re not up to it then I wouldn’t recommend reading this book.
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