“The Light Between Oceans” by M.L Stedman
The high cost a decision can have…
A good friend of mine gave me this book for my birthday as it is one of her favorites. She thought I would enjoy it and was right — once I picked it up, it was hard for me to put down.
More than a love story, it is a story about love. It is the story of Tom Sherbourne and what he did (or rather, conceded to) in order for the love of his life to be fully happy — even if it meant going against his moral principles and what he stood for.
It is also a story of how decisions we make today can shatter someone else’s life and eventually put us at a crossroads in the future. As well as about how helping someone at some point can make a big difference down the road.
Sherbourne returns to Australia after four years on the WWI front and, looking to leave the horrors of war behind, takes up a job as a lighthouse keeper in the fictional island of Janus Rock. During one of his visits to Point Partageuse in mainland Australia, he meets Isabel Graysmark, and they fall in love. A few months later they get married and begin their life together as the only two inhabitants of Janus Rock.
Deeply in love with each other and with their life on the island, they soon try to start a family with no success. One April morning, and shortly after her third miscarriage, a profoundly sad Isabel hears a baby crying in the distance. Much to her and Tom’s surprise, they find that a boat carrying a baby girl and a dead man has unexpectedly come ashore.
Their lives certainly changed that day. Isabel claims that it’s no coincidence that the baby came into their lives so soon after giving birth to a stillborn and insists on keeping the infant as their own, naming her Lucy. Tom is torn between following his moral values and reporting this incident as his job requires him to do, or fulfilling his wife’s dream of becoming a mother.
Against his better judgment, and with an overwhelming anxiety, Tom breaks the rules (and the law) and doesn’t report or input the incident in the lighthouse logbook. He buries the dead man’s body and gives in to what brings his beloved Isabel such great happiness.
Time goes by and soon enough Lucy becomes the joy of Isabel’s and Tom’s lives. Although profoundly happy with his family, Tom continues to live with guilt and the staggering weight of the choice he made.
Two years after finding Lucy the three of them travel to Point Partageuse for the first time as a family. It is during this visit to the mainland when Lucy gets to meet her “grandparents” and is christened — and is also when Isabel and Tom come face to face for the first time with the shattering consequences and profound pain that their decision to keep Lucy has inflicted on others.
This is the first novel of the author, M. L. Stedman, and what a debut it is. The story is told in such a way that you get to feel the love, the pain, and the guilt that the characters go through. There is suspense that keeps you wanting to keep on reading, and as I mentioned above, it’s very hard to put this book down. It’s also rich in the way the author describes the settings; you get immersed in the beauty of the sea, the quietness of the island, and the bright light of the lighthouse. You can even see yourself going up the circular staircase of the lighthouse with Tom.
Riveting and emotional, this is a great book for you if you are into stories in which tension and grief grow with every page you turn.