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M. L. Stedman

Author of The Light Between Oceans

2+ Works 7,117 Members 496 Reviews 6 Favorited

About the Author

Originally from Western Australia, M L Stedman has lived in London for many years, where she worked as a lawyer. She first decided to try creative writing in 1997. In the years that followed she did a few writing courses, and some of her short stories were published in anthologies. The Light show more Between Oceans is M L Stedman's debut novel, draws inspiration from the landscape of her native Western Australia. (Bowker Author Biography) show less

Includes the names: M. L. Stedman, M. L. STEDMAN

Works by M. L. Stedman

Associated Works

The Light Between Oceans [2016 film] (2016) — Original book — 51 copies

Tagged

1920s (32) 2012 (31) 2013 (60) 2014 (26) 2016 (24) adult (19) audio (20) audiobook (24) Australia (393) Australian (26) Australian literature (24) book club (94) ebook (47) family (90) favorites (22) fiction (513) goodreads (22) grief (35) historical (55) historical fiction (305) isolation (38) Kindle (59) lighthouse keepers (30) lighthouses (224) literary fiction (20) loss (35) love (42) marriage (112) motherhood (51) novel (37) own (31) post-WWI (20) read (54) read in 2012 (21) read in 2014 (21) relationships (34) romance (31) to-read (703) war (19) WWI (98)

Common Knowledge

Canonical name
Stedman, M. L.
Legal name
Stedman, Margot L
Gender
female
Nationality
Australia
Birthplace
Western Australia
Places of residence
London, England, UK
Occupations
lawyer
writer
Short biography
ML Stedman was born and raised in Western Australia and now lives in London.

Members

Discussions

The Light Between Oceans in Orange January/July (September 2021)

Reviews

Loved this book!!! Will be featuring it on my writer's page as one of my new "favorite books". It poses a question every mother could relate to but I don't want to give anything away. Also very interesting about the life of a lighthouse man back in the early 1920's.
 
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JillHannah | 495 other reviews | Nov 20, 2023 |
Great book, I read far into the night. Thank heavens I didn't have work the next day.
 
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Melline | 495 other reviews | Oct 24, 2023 |
I just couldn't get over how weak one of the characters was
 
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emmby | 495 other reviews | Oct 4, 2023 |
The Light Between Oceans is a bittersweet novel that will crush your soul (in a good way).

This is M.L. Stedman's first book, and it is one fantastic first novel (to be brutally honest). This book was beautifully written, it pulled at my heart strings and it demanded my attention. Typically fictional novels that are more focused on "drama" don't pull me like this book did! I was obsessed and had to finish reading it, I had to know what was going to happen to Tom, Isobel and Lucy.

The layers of love and affection in this story, mixed with the difficult decision making (and catch-22's, as most reviewers are saying) make this a really intriguing story. It really made me question myself and my own choices - if I was Isobel in that time period (or Tom for that matter) and went through what they had been through, would I keep the baby? Would I admit I kept the baby? What would I do?

It's a difficult decision, and you see one plot line of how this story can go. It's not like a crazy soap opera, it seems realistic (to me, anyways). It's a story all about bad decisions being made by good people, and the tension and fall outs that happen because of it. Were they really doing a bad thing, if their hearts were in the right place?

This book seems to be 50/50 for people - you either love it, or you don't. I enjoyed the slight romance, dramatic fiction, heart wrenching tale that it is....but...I also didn't read any reviews before and went in knowing I just wanted to read the book to see the movie. I had 0 expectations, and I came out loving it. In my opinion, some people seem to be reading way to far into the book. Are there themes? Yes. Is this a book that will be compared to Shakespeare (or even It...) in relation to it's themes? No. Does it identify how good people can make bad decisions? Yes. Do you have to agree with their decisions? No. Do the characters decisions have to be your decisions? No. It's simply a novel that is well written and shows one story of bad decision making.

Overall, this book is well written and is a fun read. All I can say now is, I can't wait to watch the movie!

Five out of five stars.
… (more)
 
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Briars_Reviews | 495 other reviews | Aug 4, 2023 |

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Associated Authors

Noah Taylor Narrator

Statistics

Works
2
Also by
1
Members
7,117
Popularity
#3,451
Rating
3.9
Reviews
496
ISBNs
102
Languages
14
Favorited
6
Touchstones
373

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