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The Light Between Oceans: A Novel Paperback – March 5 2013
by
M.L. Stedman
(Author)
This months-long New York Times bestseller is “irresistible…seductive…with a high concept plot that keeps you riveted from the first page,” (O, The Oprah Magazine).
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, 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, who keeps meticulous records and whose moral principles have withstood a horrific war, wants to report the man and infant immediately. But Isabel insists the baby is a “gift from God,” and 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.
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, 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, who keeps meticulous records and whose moral principles have withstood a horrific war, wants to report the man and infant immediately. But Isabel insists the baby is a “gift from God,” and 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.
- Print length352 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherScribner
- Publication dateMarch 5 2013
- Dimensions13.34 x 2.03 x 20.32 cm
- ISBN-101476738084
- ISBN-13978-1476738086
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Popular Highlights in this book
- A lighthouse is for others; powerless to illuminate the space closest to it.Highlighted by 4,584 Kindle readers
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Review
“An extraordinary and heart-rending book about good people, tragic decisions and the beauty found in each of them.”—Markus Zusak, author of The Book Thief
“M.L. Stedman’s The Light Between Oceans is a beautiful novel about isolation and courage in the face of enormous loss. It gets into your heart stealthily, until you stop hoping the characters will make different choices and find you can only watch, transfixed, as every conceivable choice becomes an impossible one. I couldn’t look away from the page and then I couldn’t see it, through tears. It’s a stunning debut.”—Maile Meloy, author of Both Ways Is the Only Way I Want It
“M.L. Stedman, a spectacularly sure storyteller, swept me to a remote island nearly a century ago, where a lighthouse keeper and his wife make a choice that shatters many lives, including their own. This is a novel in which justice for one character means another’s tragic loss, and we care desperately for both. Reading The Light Between Oceans is a total-immersion experience, extraordinarily moving.”—Monica Ali, author of Brick Lane and Untold Story
"Irresistible...seductive...a high concept plot that keeps you riveted from the first page."—Sara Nelson, O, the Oprah magazine
“Haunting...Stedman draws the reader into her emotionally complex story right from the beginning, with lush descriptions of this savageand beautiful landscape, and vivid characters with whom we can readily empathize. Hers is a stunning and memorable debut.”—Booklist, starred review
“[Stedman sets] the stage beautifully to allow for a heart-wrenching moral dilemma to play out... Most impressive is the subtle yet profound maturation of Isabel and Tom as characters.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review
“The miraculous arrival of a child in the life of a barren couple delivers profound love but also the seeds of destruction. Moral dilemmas don’t come more exquisite than the one around which Australian novelist Stedman constructs her debut.”—Kirkus Reviews, starred review
“This heartbreaking debut from M L Stedman is a gem of a book that you'll have trouble putting down”—Good Housekeeping
“This fine, suspenseful debut explores desperation, morality, and loss, and considers the damaging ways in which we store our private sorrows, and the consequences of such terrible secrets.”—Martha Stewart Whole Living
“As time passes the harder the decision becomes to undo and the more towering is its impact. This is the story of its terrible consequences. But it is also a description of the extraordinary, sustaining power of a marriage to bind two people together in love, through the most emotionally harrowing circumstances.”—Victoria Moore, The Daily Mail
“A love story that is both persuasive and tender…”—Elizabeth Buchan, The Sunday Times (UK)
“What an extraordinary book this is. Tom, traumatised on the western front, takes a job as lighthouse keeper on Janus Rock, 100 miles off the Australian coast between the Indian and Southern oceans, where he hopes that the vast surrounding emptiness will bring him peace. When after three years and as many miscarriages his wife hears a baby's cry and discovers a dead man and a baby in a washed up dinghy, she feels her prayers have been answered. The ensuing tragedy is as inevitable as Hardy at his most doom-laden. And as unforgettable.”—Sue Arnold, Guardian
“Lyrical…Stedman’s debut signals a career certain to deliver future treasures.” ― People
“A beautifully delineated tale of love and loss, right and wrong, and what we will do for the happiness of those most dear.” -- Tova Beiser ― The Boston Globe
“Elegantly rendered…heart-wrenching…the relationship between Tom and Isabel, in particular, is beautifully drawn.” -- Elysa Gardner ― USA Today
Told with the authoritative simplicity of a fable…Stedman’s intricate descriptions of the craggy Australian coastline and her easy mastery of an old-time provincial vernacular are engrossing. As the couple at the lighthouse are drawn into and increasingly tragic set of consequences, these remote, strange lives are rendered immediate and familiar.” ― The New Yorker
“Sublimely written, poetic in its intensity and frailty…This is a simply beautiful story that deserves the praise and wide audience it’s receiving. A stunning debut from a new voice that I can’t wait to hear again.” -- Karen Brooks, author
“M.L. Stedman’s The Light Between Oceans is a beautiful novel about isolation and courage in the face of enormous loss. It gets into your heart stealthily, until you stop hoping the characters will make different choices and find you can only watch, transfixed, as every conceivable choice becomes an impossible one. I couldn’t look away from the page and then I couldn’t see it, through tears. It’s a stunning debut.”—Maile Meloy, author of Both Ways Is the Only Way I Want It
“M.L. Stedman, a spectacularly sure storyteller, swept me to a remote island nearly a century ago, where a lighthouse keeper and his wife make a choice that shatters many lives, including their own. This is a novel in which justice for one character means another’s tragic loss, and we care desperately for both. Reading The Light Between Oceans is a total-immersion experience, extraordinarily moving.”—Monica Ali, author of Brick Lane and Untold Story
"Irresistible...seductive...a high concept plot that keeps you riveted from the first page."—Sara Nelson, O, the Oprah magazine
“Haunting...Stedman draws the reader into her emotionally complex story right from the beginning, with lush descriptions of this savageand beautiful landscape, and vivid characters with whom we can readily empathize. Hers is a stunning and memorable debut.”—Booklist, starred review
“[Stedman sets] the stage beautifully to allow for a heart-wrenching moral dilemma to play out... Most impressive is the subtle yet profound maturation of Isabel and Tom as characters.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review
“The miraculous arrival of a child in the life of a barren couple delivers profound love but also the seeds of destruction. Moral dilemmas don’t come more exquisite than the one around which Australian novelist Stedman constructs her debut.”—Kirkus Reviews, starred review
“This heartbreaking debut from M L Stedman is a gem of a book that you'll have trouble putting down”—Good Housekeeping
“This fine, suspenseful debut explores desperation, morality, and loss, and considers the damaging ways in which we store our private sorrows, and the consequences of such terrible secrets.”—Martha Stewart Whole Living
“As time passes the harder the decision becomes to undo and the more towering is its impact. This is the story of its terrible consequences. But it is also a description of the extraordinary, sustaining power of a marriage to bind two people together in love, through the most emotionally harrowing circumstances.”—Victoria Moore, The Daily Mail
“A love story that is both persuasive and tender…”—Elizabeth Buchan, The Sunday Times (UK)
“What an extraordinary book this is. Tom, traumatised on the western front, takes a job as lighthouse keeper on Janus Rock, 100 miles off the Australian coast between the Indian and Southern oceans, where he hopes that the vast surrounding emptiness will bring him peace. When after three years and as many miscarriages his wife hears a baby's cry and discovers a dead man and a baby in a washed up dinghy, she feels her prayers have been answered. The ensuing tragedy is as inevitable as Hardy at his most doom-laden. And as unforgettable.”—Sue Arnold, Guardian
“Lyrical…Stedman’s debut signals a career certain to deliver future treasures.” ― People
“A beautifully delineated tale of love and loss, right and wrong, and what we will do for the happiness of those most dear.” -- Tova Beiser ― The Boston Globe
“Elegantly rendered…heart-wrenching…the relationship between Tom and Isabel, in particular, is beautifully drawn.” -- Elysa Gardner ― USA Today
Told with the authoritative simplicity of a fable…Stedman’s intricate descriptions of the craggy Australian coastline and her easy mastery of an old-time provincial vernacular are engrossing. As the couple at the lighthouse are drawn into and increasingly tragic set of consequences, these remote, strange lives are rendered immediate and familiar.” ― The New Yorker
“Sublimely written, poetic in its intensity and frailty…This is a simply beautiful story that deserves the praise and wide audience it’s receiving. A stunning debut from a new voice that I can’t wait to hear again.” -- Karen Brooks, author
About the Author
M.L. Stedman was born and raised in Western Australia and now lives in London. The Light Between Oceans is her first novel.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Thousands of miles away on the west coast, Janus Rock was the furthest place on the continent from Tom’s childhood home in Sydney. But Janus Light was the last sign of Australia he had seen as his troopship steamed for Egypt in 1915. The smell of the eucalypts had wafted for miles offshore from Albany, and when the scent faded away he was suddenly sick at the loss of something he didn’t know he could miss. Then, hours later, true and steady, the light, with its five-second flash, came into view—his homeland’s furthest reach—and its memory stayed with him through the years of hell that followed, like a farewell kiss. When, in June 1920, he got news of an urgent vacancy going on Janus, it was as though the light there were calling to him.
Teetering on the edge of the continental shelf, Janus was not a popular posting. Though its Grade One hardship rating meant a slightly higher salary, the old hands said it wasn’t worth the money, which was meager all the same. The keeper Tom replaced on Janus was Trimble Docherty, who had caused a stir by reporting that his wife was signaling to passing ships by stringing up messages in the colored flags of the International Code. This was unsatisfactory to the authorities for two reasons: first, because the Deputy Director of Lighthouses had some years previously forbidden signaling by flags on Janus, as vessels put themselves at risk by sailing close enough to decipher them; and secondly, because the wife in question was recently deceased.
Considerable correspondence on the subject was generated in triplicate between Fremantle and Melbourne, with the Deputy Director in Fremantle putting the case for Docherty and his years of excellent service, to a Head Office concerned strictly with efficiency and cost and obeying the rules. A compromise was reached by which a temporary keeper would be engaged while Docherty was given six months’ medical leave.
“We wouldn’t normally send a single man to Janus—it’s pretty remote and a wife and family can be a great practical help, not just a comfort,” the District Officer had said to Tom. “But seeing it’s only temporary… You’ll leave for Partageuse in two days,” he said, and signed him up for six months.
There wasn’t much to organize. No one to farewell. Two days later, Tom walked up the gangplank of the boat, armed with a kit bag and not much else. The SS Prometheus worked its way along the southern shores of Australia, stopping at various ports on its run between Sydney and Perth. The few cabins reserved for first-class passengers were on the upper deck, toward the bow. In third class, Tom shared a cabin with an elderly sailor. “Been making this trip for fifty years—they wouldn’t have the cheek to ask me to pay. Bad luck, you know,” the man had said cheerfully, then returned his attention to the large bottle of over-proof rum that kept him occupied. To escape the alcohol fumes, Tom took to walking the deck during the day. Of an evening there’d usually be a card game belowdecks.
You could still tell at a glance who’d been over there and who’d sat the war out at home. You could smell it on a man. Each tended to keep to his own kind. Being in the bowels of the vessel brought back memories of the troopships that took them first to the Middle East, and later to France. Within moments of arriving on board, they’d deduced, almost by an animal sense, who was an officer, who was lower ranks; where they’d been.
Just like on the troopships, the focus was on finding a bit of sport to liven up the journey. The game settled on was familiar enough: first one to score a souvenir off a first-class passenger was the winner. Not just any souvenir, though. The designated article was a pair of ladies’ drawers. “Prize money’s doubled if she’s wearing them at the time.”
The ringleader, a man by the name of McGowan, with a mustache, and fingers yellowed from his Woodbines, said he’d been chatting to one of the stewards about the passenger list: the choice was limited. There were ten cabins in all. A lawyer and his wife—best give them a wide berth; some elderly couples, a pair of old spinsters (promising), but best of all, some toff’s daughter traveling on her own.
“I reckon we can climb up the side and in through her window,” he announced. “Who’s with me?”
The danger of the enterprise didn’t surprise Tom. He’d heard dozens of such tales since he got back. Men who’d taken to risking their lives on a whim—treating the boom gates at level crossings as a gallop jump; swimming into rips to see if they could get out. So many men who had dodged death over there now seemed addicted to its lure. Still, this lot were free agents now. Probably just full of talk.
The following night, when the nightmares were worse than usual, Tom decided to escape them by walking the decks. It was two a.m. He was free to wander wherever he wanted at that hour, so he paced methodically, watching the moonlight leave its wake on the water. He climbed to the upper deck, gripping the stair rail to counter the gentle rolling, and stood a moment at the top, taking in the freshness of the breeze and the steadiness of the stars that showered the night.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a glimmer come on in one of the cabins. Even first-class passengers had trouble sleeping sometimes, he mused. Then, some sixth sense awoke in him—that familiar, indefinable instinct for trouble. He moved silently toward the cabin, and looked in through the window.
In the dim light, he saw a woman flat against the wall, pinned there even though the man before her wasn’t touching her. He was an inch away from her face, with a leer Tom had seen too often. He recognized the man from belowdecks, and remembered the prize. Bloody idiots. He tried the door, and it opened.
“Leave her alone,” he said as he stepped into the cabin. He spoke calmly, but left no room for debate.
The man spun around to see who it was, and grinned when he recognized Tom. “Christ! Thought you were a steward! You can give me a hand, I was just—”
“I said leave her alone! Clear out. Now.”
“But I haven’t finished. I was just going to make her day.” He reeked of drink and stale tobacco.
Tom put a hand on his shoulder, with a grip so hard that the man cried out. He was a good six inches shorter than Tom, but tried to take a swing at him all the same. Tom seized his wrist and twisted it. “Name and rank!”
“McKenzie. Private. 3277.” The unrequested serial number followed like a reflex.
“Private, you’ll apologize to this young lady and you’ll get back to your bunk and you won’t show your face on deck until we berth, you understand me?”
“Yes, sir!” He turned to the woman. “Beg your pardon, Miss. Didn’t mean any harm.”
Still terrified, the woman gave the slightest nod.
“Now, out!” Tom said, and the man, deflated by sudden sobriety, shuffled from the cabin.
“You all right?” Tom asked the woman.
“I—I think so.”
“Did he hurt you?”
“He didn’t…”—she was saying it to herself as much as to him—“he didn’t actually touch me.”
He took in the woman’s face—her gray eyes seemed calmer now. Her dark hair was loose, in waves down to her arms, and her fists still gathered her nightgown to her neck. Tom reached for her dressing gown from a hook on the wall and draped it over her shoulders.
“Thank you,” she said.
“Must have got an awful fright. I’m afraid some of us aren’t used to civilized company these days.”
She didn’t speak.
“You won’t get any more trouble from him.” He righted a chair that had been overturned in the encounter. “Up to you whether you report him, Miss. I’d say he’s not the full quid now.”
Her eyes asked a question.
“Being over there changes a man. Right and wrong don’t look so different any more to some.” He turned to go, but put his head back through the doorway. “You’ve got every right to have him up on charges if you want. But I reckon he’s probably got enough troubles. Like I said—up to you,” and he disappeared through the door.
Teetering on the edge of the continental shelf, Janus was not a popular posting. Though its Grade One hardship rating meant a slightly higher salary, the old hands said it wasn’t worth the money, which was meager all the same. The keeper Tom replaced on Janus was Trimble Docherty, who had caused a stir by reporting that his wife was signaling to passing ships by stringing up messages in the colored flags of the International Code. This was unsatisfactory to the authorities for two reasons: first, because the Deputy Director of Lighthouses had some years previously forbidden signaling by flags on Janus, as vessels put themselves at risk by sailing close enough to decipher them; and secondly, because the wife in question was recently deceased.
Considerable correspondence on the subject was generated in triplicate between Fremantle and Melbourne, with the Deputy Director in Fremantle putting the case for Docherty and his years of excellent service, to a Head Office concerned strictly with efficiency and cost and obeying the rules. A compromise was reached by which a temporary keeper would be engaged while Docherty was given six months’ medical leave.
“We wouldn’t normally send a single man to Janus—it’s pretty remote and a wife and family can be a great practical help, not just a comfort,” the District Officer had said to Tom. “But seeing it’s only temporary… You’ll leave for Partageuse in two days,” he said, and signed him up for six months.
There wasn’t much to organize. No one to farewell. Two days later, Tom walked up the gangplank of the boat, armed with a kit bag and not much else. The SS Prometheus worked its way along the southern shores of Australia, stopping at various ports on its run between Sydney and Perth. The few cabins reserved for first-class passengers were on the upper deck, toward the bow. In third class, Tom shared a cabin with an elderly sailor. “Been making this trip for fifty years—they wouldn’t have the cheek to ask me to pay. Bad luck, you know,” the man had said cheerfully, then returned his attention to the large bottle of over-proof rum that kept him occupied. To escape the alcohol fumes, Tom took to walking the deck during the day. Of an evening there’d usually be a card game belowdecks.
You could still tell at a glance who’d been over there and who’d sat the war out at home. You could smell it on a man. Each tended to keep to his own kind. Being in the bowels of the vessel brought back memories of the troopships that took them first to the Middle East, and later to France. Within moments of arriving on board, they’d deduced, almost by an animal sense, who was an officer, who was lower ranks; where they’d been.
Just like on the troopships, the focus was on finding a bit of sport to liven up the journey. The game settled on was familiar enough: first one to score a souvenir off a first-class passenger was the winner. Not just any souvenir, though. The designated article was a pair of ladies’ drawers. “Prize money’s doubled if she’s wearing them at the time.”
The ringleader, a man by the name of McGowan, with a mustache, and fingers yellowed from his Woodbines, said he’d been chatting to one of the stewards about the passenger list: the choice was limited. There were ten cabins in all. A lawyer and his wife—best give them a wide berth; some elderly couples, a pair of old spinsters (promising), but best of all, some toff’s daughter traveling on her own.
“I reckon we can climb up the side and in through her window,” he announced. “Who’s with me?”
The danger of the enterprise didn’t surprise Tom. He’d heard dozens of such tales since he got back. Men who’d taken to risking their lives on a whim—treating the boom gates at level crossings as a gallop jump; swimming into rips to see if they could get out. So many men who had dodged death over there now seemed addicted to its lure. Still, this lot were free agents now. Probably just full of talk.
The following night, when the nightmares were worse than usual, Tom decided to escape them by walking the decks. It was two a.m. He was free to wander wherever he wanted at that hour, so he paced methodically, watching the moonlight leave its wake on the water. He climbed to the upper deck, gripping the stair rail to counter the gentle rolling, and stood a moment at the top, taking in the freshness of the breeze and the steadiness of the stars that showered the night.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a glimmer come on in one of the cabins. Even first-class passengers had trouble sleeping sometimes, he mused. Then, some sixth sense awoke in him—that familiar, indefinable instinct for trouble. He moved silently toward the cabin, and looked in through the window.
In the dim light, he saw a woman flat against the wall, pinned there even though the man before her wasn’t touching her. He was an inch away from her face, with a leer Tom had seen too often. He recognized the man from belowdecks, and remembered the prize. Bloody idiots. He tried the door, and it opened.
“Leave her alone,” he said as he stepped into the cabin. He spoke calmly, but left no room for debate.
The man spun around to see who it was, and grinned when he recognized Tom. “Christ! Thought you were a steward! You can give me a hand, I was just—”
“I said leave her alone! Clear out. Now.”
“But I haven’t finished. I was just going to make her day.” He reeked of drink and stale tobacco.
Tom put a hand on his shoulder, with a grip so hard that the man cried out. He was a good six inches shorter than Tom, but tried to take a swing at him all the same. Tom seized his wrist and twisted it. “Name and rank!”
“McKenzie. Private. 3277.” The unrequested serial number followed like a reflex.
“Private, you’ll apologize to this young lady and you’ll get back to your bunk and you won’t show your face on deck until we berth, you understand me?”
“Yes, sir!” He turned to the woman. “Beg your pardon, Miss. Didn’t mean any harm.”
Still terrified, the woman gave the slightest nod.
“Now, out!” Tom said, and the man, deflated by sudden sobriety, shuffled from the cabin.
“You all right?” Tom asked the woman.
“I—I think so.”
“Did he hurt you?”
“He didn’t…”—she was saying it to herself as much as to him—“he didn’t actually touch me.”
He took in the woman’s face—her gray eyes seemed calmer now. Her dark hair was loose, in waves down to her arms, and her fists still gathered her nightgown to her neck. Tom reached for her dressing gown from a hook on the wall and draped it over her shoulders.
“Thank you,” she said.
“Must have got an awful fright. I’m afraid some of us aren’t used to civilized company these days.”
She didn’t speak.
“You won’t get any more trouble from him.” He righted a chair that had been overturned in the encounter. “Up to you whether you report him, Miss. I’d say he’s not the full quid now.”
Her eyes asked a question.
“Being over there changes a man. Right and wrong don’t look so different any more to some.” He turned to go, but put his head back through the doorway. “You’ve got every right to have him up on charges if you want. But I reckon he’s probably got enough troubles. Like I said—up to you,” and he disappeared through the door.
Product details
- Publisher : Scribner; Canadian edition (March 5 2013)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 352 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1476738084
- ISBN-13 : 978-1476738086
- Item weight : 277 g
- Dimensions : 13.34 x 2.03 x 20.32 cm
- Best Sellers Rank: #139,851 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #2,657 in Family Saga
- #10,851 in Literary Fiction (Books)
- #12,051 in Historical Fiction (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
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M.L. STEDMAN was born and raised in Western Australia and now lives in London. The Light Between Oceans is her first novel. An award-winning international bestseller, the book has already sold over 3 million copies in the English language alone, and is published in 45 countries. In 2016 it was made into a Dreamworks film starring Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander, produced by Heyday Films.
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Reviewed in Canada on January 24, 2024
Verified Purchase
Loved the story
Reviewed in Canada on April 25, 2016
Verified Purchase
Ce premier roman de Margot L. Stedman a gardé mon intérêt jusqu'à la fin. En fait, mon rythme de lecture accélérait à mesure que l'intrigue s'intensifiait. Même s'il me fallait ouvrir mon dictionnaire régulièrement; l'auteure ayant un riche vocabulaire (e.g. astragal, plimsoll, cochineal, rowlock, inkling, palaver, furphy and kookaburra). Il ne faut pas oublier que la majeure partie de l'histoire se déroule en Australie, dans les années 1920'... Mme Stedman utilise aussi de nombreuses expressions très colorées que je ne connaissais pas encore : "thin as a yard of pump water", "for donkey's years", "brass-monkey weather", "he's not the happiest corpse in the morgue", "it was something of a three-line whip" and "mad as a meat ax". Il s'agit donc d'une lecture à la fois agréable et instructive.
Reviewed in Canada on April 17, 2013
Verified Purchase
It is December 1918, when Tom Sherbourne applies for a position as a lighthouse keeper. He had previously spent four years fighting in World War 1. He had received several Medals of Honour. Now, Tom finds himself in a small town in Western Australia. In June 1920, he receives news of an urgent vacancy available on Janus Rock, a remote island off the coast of Australia, where the supply boat comes every season. Tom is replacing Trimble Docherty, who was put on sick leave. Apparently, his wife had disobeyed the rules and caused a stir. So Tom was going to fill in for him for six months. A few days later, Tom lands in Partageuse, a half a day's journey to the isolated Island. While in Partageuse, he sees a young girl feeding the seagulls. She offers him some bread to feed the seagulls too and that is how they meet. Before setting off for the Island, it is customary for the new lighthouse keeper to be invited to have dinner with the Harbourmaster and his wife. Captain Percy Hasluck is in charge of all the comings and goings at the port. At the dinner, Tom is introduced to Isabel Graysmark. She is there with her parents. Isabel is the young and bold girl who was feeding the seagulls. The very next day, Tom is taken by boat to Janus Rock. Tom and Isabel decide to keep in touch by sending letters by boat every three months, when the supply boat arrives.
When Tom arrives, his job as the lighthouse keeper begins. The logbook tells the tale of the keeper's life. He has to keep a record of the exact minute the light is lit, the exact minute it is put out, the weather conditions, the ships that pass, a distress flare, a wisp of smoke and a bit of metal washed up that might turn out to be a wreckage. The log is the gospel truth. Everything has to be recorded and Tom's records are meticulous.
It is now several months that Tom and Isabel correspond and through their letters they decide to marry. Tom is concerned that Isabel would have nothing to do on an island, but she finds many things to do. They hope to start a family. Sadly, she has two miscarriages and one stillbirth. Isabel feels like a failure and is grieving her loss.
Two weeks after the stillbirth, Isabel hears the cries of a baby. A canoe has washed up ashore at Janus Rock and in it is a dead man and a live baby girl. Tom has a sense of duty and wants to report it. It is the moral thing to do. His records are meticulous and he wants to report the dead man and he also wants to return the baby to its rightful mother. However, Isabel begs Tom to keep the child. She tells Tom that the dead man is probably the father and the baby's mother must have died too. Tom loves Isabel and gives in to keeping the baby. Isabel feels the baby is a miracle from God. They name the baby Lucy. Isabel tells Tom to keep it a secret and that no one has to know the truth. Tom buries the dead man and they keep the baby. All is well for two years when .......
This is where a bad decision is made for all the right reasons.
You wonder who this baby girl is. Does she have parents who are grieving on the mainland? Who is the dead man? How did he die? What happens to Tom and Isabel for breaking the law? The answers to these questions are slowly resolved.
The Light Between Oceans is a stunning debut novel by M. L. Stedman. The description of the Australian coastland is breathtaking. The characters are so true to life. What an enjoyable read! I highly recommend this book. You will not be disappointed.
When Tom arrives, his job as the lighthouse keeper begins. The logbook tells the tale of the keeper's life. He has to keep a record of the exact minute the light is lit, the exact minute it is put out, the weather conditions, the ships that pass, a distress flare, a wisp of smoke and a bit of metal washed up that might turn out to be a wreckage. The log is the gospel truth. Everything has to be recorded and Tom's records are meticulous.
It is now several months that Tom and Isabel correspond and through their letters they decide to marry. Tom is concerned that Isabel would have nothing to do on an island, but she finds many things to do. They hope to start a family. Sadly, she has two miscarriages and one stillbirth. Isabel feels like a failure and is grieving her loss.
Two weeks after the stillbirth, Isabel hears the cries of a baby. A canoe has washed up ashore at Janus Rock and in it is a dead man and a live baby girl. Tom has a sense of duty and wants to report it. It is the moral thing to do. His records are meticulous and he wants to report the dead man and he also wants to return the baby to its rightful mother. However, Isabel begs Tom to keep the child. She tells Tom that the dead man is probably the father and the baby's mother must have died too. Tom loves Isabel and gives in to keeping the baby. Isabel feels the baby is a miracle from God. They name the baby Lucy. Isabel tells Tom to keep it a secret and that no one has to know the truth. Tom buries the dead man and they keep the baby. All is well for two years when .......
This is where a bad decision is made for all the right reasons.
You wonder who this baby girl is. Does she have parents who are grieving on the mainland? Who is the dead man? How did he die? What happens to Tom and Isabel for breaking the law? The answers to these questions are slowly resolved.
The Light Between Oceans is a stunning debut novel by M. L. Stedman. The description of the Australian coastland is breathtaking. The characters are so true to life. What an enjoyable read! I highly recommend this book. You will not be disappointed.
Reviewed in Canada on June 23, 2020
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This novel captivated and absolutely gutted me. The writing is so accurate, so heartfelt, so heartbreakingly real that I sobbed with the sheer weight of emotion of it. The characters are all real, all relatable, all flawed in their own way. The connection with each of them is heart-wrenching with every turn of the page as the story gets more entangled and the weight of their decisions is felt like a chain around the reader's neck, waiting to see how much more we can bear before breaking us. One of the most gut-wrenching books I've ever read, on par with The Nightingale for its heartbreaking unpredictability. As a mother reading this, it broke me. Simply astounding.
4.0 out of 5 stars
How do you decide what is the right thing to do when all options seem unbearable?
Reviewed in Canada on May 13, 2013Verified Purchase
I found this book held my interest because I cared about the characters and struggled with them to the very end. A small boat washes up on a tiny island inhabited by the lighthouse keeper and his wife, inside there is a dead man and a live baby. The couple have just buried their third stillborn baby and the wife believes she is meant to keep this stranger's baby. Against her husband's wishes she convinces him to let her keep the baby and pretend it is their own. After years of cherishing this baby girl as their own it looks like people are beginning to question her birth as coincidentally a mainland baby and her father were lost at sea at around the same time.
Reviewed in Canada on September 7, 2015
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Readers always hope that a new novelist will take a story and make it soar, capture their hearts, make it so believable that they don't want it to end. I had high hopes for The Light Between Oceans, M.L. Stedman's first novel, only to have them submerged in an ocean of female tears so easy to produce when writing about miscarriages, crying babies, lost loves and death by cancer. Part way through, it dawned that The Light would make a fantastic tear-jerker of a movie but not an inspiring novel. What was the plot, the reason behind this story? There was no underlying theme of mercy, justice or goodness ,no humour whatsoever, and an ending that dragged on and on until the last gasp. What was very interesting and the reason that this reviewer gave three stars, was the clear and precise description of the workings of a lighthouse at the time of the first World War.
Reviewed in Canada on October 8, 2022
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It’s been a while since I read this and I can still remember the heartbreak. You will cry!
Really powerful story. The power of love. I recommend this. It is a love story and also a story of resilience and loss.
Really powerful story. The power of love. I recommend this. It is a love story and also a story of resilience and loss.
Reviewed in Canada on October 27, 2016
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This is a great story. The movie prompted me to purchase it, and it was no disappointment. In fact I've given the book to my daughter who has not seen the movie and after reading the book probably won't. If you are interested in a book you cannot put down, this story will take you through a relationship and the stages of love, sadness, deceit, and redemption. A good read, and highly recommended.
Top reviews from other countries
ILuvGoldDogs
5.0 out of 5 stars
Heart wrenching read.
Reviewed in the United States on April 23, 2021Verified Purchase
I was reading through a few of the negative reviews for this book and a thought occurred to me. Are these the type of people who go onto recipe share sites, alter the recipe beyond recognition, have poor results and then leave negative reviews for the person who submitted the original recipe? Do they read books and feel upset because they didn't like the author's 'recipe' for the book because it wasn't written how they would have liked thus it didn't bend to their personal viewpoints and needs?
Whether for good or for bad, when one reads an historical novel one needs to consider what was normal behavior and procedure for middle and lower class people of that time period. People had shorter life-spans, the male population was sparse because there had been a world war. People married early whether out of necessity, convenience or love and started their families. Take into consideration that the majority of women did not hold down jobs so they needed a man to support them in adulthood. Most people had home births and the technology we take for granted today to support women with endangered pregnancies didn't exist. People made lots of babies without much available in the way of birth control, thus there not being much need to focus on anything which curtailed the population. Lots of hungry mouths to feed in those days.
That said, people didn't spend much time sitting around and discussing their feelings. Men were taught that showing emotion was unmanly. Women were taught to put their husbands needs before their own to keep their husbands comfortable and happy. Add to this you have a man who obviously suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and doesn't want to dredge up his emotional wounds. Life was hard and people needed to focus on survival vs feelings. As it has been said, "Only the strong survive." Someone had to maintain the home. Someone needed to provide a means to put food on the table. Animals and children needed to be tended. Lots of responsibilities maintained daily to keep their heads above water.
If you have ever read older novels written during this time period and earlier, you will likely find none of dwell on people's feelings much beyond naming them...anger, madness, love and the like.
As for the novel itself, I enjoyed it. I think the author did a good job building the story around the characters. As per the bad choices, who among us has not made bad choices? Given the degree of hopelessness and depression Isobel must have experienced wanting children so desperately and failing to produce any live births, it was easy to see how she rationalized the baby was probably orphaned, needed parents and was a gift from God. She and Tom quickly fell in love with the baby in spite of Tom's dilemma of doing the 'right' thing legally vs. the 'right' thing to do for Isobel.
As horrid as the situation which evolved became once the story came out, in the end it had to be that way. The wrong needed to be righted. So it was.
Whether for good or for bad, when one reads an historical novel one needs to consider what was normal behavior and procedure for middle and lower class people of that time period. People had shorter life-spans, the male population was sparse because there had been a world war. People married early whether out of necessity, convenience or love and started their families. Take into consideration that the majority of women did not hold down jobs so they needed a man to support them in adulthood. Most people had home births and the technology we take for granted today to support women with endangered pregnancies didn't exist. People made lots of babies without much available in the way of birth control, thus there not being much need to focus on anything which curtailed the population. Lots of hungry mouths to feed in those days.
That said, people didn't spend much time sitting around and discussing their feelings. Men were taught that showing emotion was unmanly. Women were taught to put their husbands needs before their own to keep their husbands comfortable and happy. Add to this you have a man who obviously suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and doesn't want to dredge up his emotional wounds. Life was hard and people needed to focus on survival vs feelings. As it has been said, "Only the strong survive." Someone had to maintain the home. Someone needed to provide a means to put food on the table. Animals and children needed to be tended. Lots of responsibilities maintained daily to keep their heads above water.
If you have ever read older novels written during this time period and earlier, you will likely find none of dwell on people's feelings much beyond naming them...anger, madness, love and the like.
As for the novel itself, I enjoyed it. I think the author did a good job building the story around the characters. As per the bad choices, who among us has not made bad choices? Given the degree of hopelessness and depression Isobel must have experienced wanting children so desperately and failing to produce any live births, it was easy to see how she rationalized the baby was probably orphaned, needed parents and was a gift from God. She and Tom quickly fell in love with the baby in spite of Tom's dilemma of doing the 'right' thing legally vs. the 'right' thing to do for Isobel.
As horrid as the situation which evolved became once the story came out, in the end it had to be that way. The wrong needed to be righted. So it was.
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JAO
5.0 out of 5 stars
Envìo ràpido y a bajo costo
Reviewed in Spain on August 10, 2023Verified Purchase
El libro es excelente. La compra y envìo por Amazon fuè simple, ràpido y preciso