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Loading... The Light Between Oceans (2012)by M. L. Stedman, M.L. Stedman (Author)
  
» 33 more Historical Fiction (82) Favourite Books (397) Books Read in 2013 (41) Island Settings (14) Top Five Books of 2014 (349) To Read (10) Female Author (320) Five star books (309) Best family sagas (109) Books Read in 2015 (1,375) Books Read in 2018 (1,842) Books tagged favorites (171) Deena's Favorites (33) Books read in 2015 (36) First Novels (101) New Authors to Read (14) Books on my Kindle (121) Contemporary Fiction (15)  Chrissylou62 | Aug 1, 2020 |  There are many things I really enjoyed about this book and many things I didn't. I love the image of the lighthouse and the small island it inhabits. I thought the character development of the two protagonists were well done. The story was interesting but a little convoluted. Was easy to read and could be the subject of right and wrong. Is it better to lie than to hurt someone? (  ) Jolene.M | Jul 30, 2020 | [b:The Light Between Oceans|13158800|The Light Between Oceans|M.L. Stedman|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1336683021l/13158800._SY75_.jpg|18337340] focused on the relationship between a man and a woman and how becoming parents changed that relationship. I was uninterested in that relationship when it started and uninterested when it changed and - subsequently - the emotional core of the book failed to resonate with me at any level. Folks who have experienced the shift from being young adults to being young parents (or those who aspire to become a parent) might have a different reaction to the book. (  ) atlastata | Jul 28, 2020 | Good cottage/beach read (  ) SBG1962 | Jul 13, 2020 | 4 Tom Sherbourne returns to Australia after surviving the horrors of WWI. He longs for solitude and joins the Lighthouse Service eventually taking a job as light-keeper on Janus Island, the separation point between the Indian Ocean and Southern Sea. He meets Isabel Greymark while on leave in SW Australia. They fall in love, marry and begin their life together on Janus Rock. They are happy together except for their inability to have children. Isabel suffers two miscarriages and a stillbirth during the first few years of their marriage. Both Tom and Isabel are devastated. One day a small boat washes up on the island carrying a dead man and a tiny living baby girl. Isabel desperately wants to keep the baby and even though Tom knows it's wrong, he can't bear to disappoint Isabel. They decide to pretend the baby is their own. They name the child Lucy and she changes their life. They are both happier than they could ever have imagined. When they return to the mainland for a one month leave and Lucy's christening they hear the story of Hannah Roennfelt. Her husband Frank escaped into a dinghy with their baby daughter after being hounded by local thugs and their bodies have never been found. They realize their decision to keep Lucy, a child they thought was orphaned, has serious repercussions for two families now. The story explores the dilemma of right and wrong, love, loss and what we do to protect the people we love. The author made you experience the isolation of Janus Rock and why Tom, Isabel and Lucy were so attached to each other. I'm happy I finally read this book, even though I thought my heart would break for both Isabel and Hannah. I thought it was a powerful and emotional story. (  ) Olivermagnus | Jul 2, 2020 |
 Light" is a story you want to finish, despite some predictability problems. I cared about Tom and Isabel, and cheered for them even as they betrayed each other. And I was charmed by the supporting cast of characters (Bluey and Ralph in particular). Stedman's grasp of the dialect of the region's inhabitants and dialogue fitting for the era are admirable. Her writing is sound, if sometimes uninspiring, but every so often she throws out a gorgeous line that you have to stop and read twice to appreciate, like this one: "A goblin thought jumps onto her shoulder: what's the point of tomorrow?" Or, "The rain is falling more heavily, and in the distance, thunder grumbles at being left behind by the lightning." Nice. First-time novelist Stedman did what all good writers should do: She got her readers emotionally invested in her story. As if you needed it, here's more proof that this novel is worth your time: The film rights have already been picked up.  The miraculous arrival of a child in the life of a barren couple delivers profound love but also the seeds of destruction.......A polished, cleverly constructed and very precisely calculated first novel 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. Light Between Oceans' is tough to shake off....And to the author's credit, Light's resolution is neither sensationalistic nor overly tidy. Everyone in this book has to make tough choices, including the little girl. By letting neither her readers nor her characters off the hook easily, Stedman creates a bond that makes her book tough to shake off. Belongs to Publisher Series
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It was hard to like the main characters, especially the two "mothers". Any sympathy that I may have initially had for them was lost by the middle of the book. As the story progressed, I was thinking... "that doesn't seem like what this character would do".. and it was frustrating that the author wanted us to believe in the characters.
The ending was unsatisfying. What was Isabella's life like after she left Perth? We followed her development, then were suddenly left without any explanation or her point of view.
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