REVIEW: THE LIGHT BETWEEN OCEANS

The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman
ARC


I received this ARC last summer from  Simon and Schuster Canada... whom I LOVE!  Thank you, S & S, for sending me this fantastic book!

Alright, so I think I may have given away this review before actually writing it, as I did really love this one.

The story takes place in early 20th century, on a little plot of land with a lighthouse.  It kind of reminds me of a Jodi Picoult type story line, with plenty of room for opinion!

Here is the blurb from Simon and Schuster:

After four harrowing years on the Western Front, Tom Sherbourne returns to Australia and takes 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. 


Stedman has crafted a stunning tale that will be great fodder for any book club as it is rife with moral dilemma.  You will find yourself cheering alternately as the story unfolds, perhaps even surprising yourself as to which "side" you may land on!  

She writes a very believable story that follows the correct social etiquette of the time, sometimes missing in other novels set in the same time period.  I personally love reading books about solitary life, as I yearn for the life of a light keeper, or a park ranger, or a hairy hippy who rejects modern life for a log cabin deep in the woods.  Sigh.  I know I would probably go nutty after a few weeks, but on the busy days heavy with the loud buzzing of technology that is the backdrop of our lives these days, I really wish for the quite life that a day in 1900 looking after The Light would bring.  

I highly recommend The Light Between Oceans!

RATING:  4.5/5