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The Light Between Oceans
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Product Description
Book Description
A stunning debut novel about a lighthouse keeper and his wife who face a life-changing moral dilemma. For fans of The Island.
Product Description
'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
Tom Sherbourne, released from the horrors of the First World War, is now a lighthouse keeper, cocooned on a remote island with his young wife Izzy, who is content in everything but her failure to have a child.
One April morning, a boat washes ashore carrying a dead man - and a crying baby. Safe from the real world, Tom and Izzy break the rules and follow their hearts.
It is a decision with devastating consequences.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
Thiis is Stedman's debut novel and I honestly thought initially I was reading an established author, as the writing is well crafted, characters well drawn, plot interesting and the book draws you in front the start. We are transported to Australia, to Janus Rock where the Janus lighthouse stands, between the two oceans (hence the title). The lighthouse represents the last sight of Australia that Tom Sherbourne, one of the central characters, saw as he left to fight in World War 1. Tom survived the war physically unscathed by mentally traumatised. In the 1920s Tom is now lighthouse keeper on Janus Rock.
On his first visit to the lighthouse, he stops at the nearest port town and meets Isabel Graysmark. Their courtship is a protracted affair, with no communication other than letters every three months. The isolation of their love is very strong and depicted very well by the author. It was clear that Isabel and Tom were meant to be together and that they could fight anything that was brought against them. However, tragedy strikes them more than once, but despite everything the lighthouse and the rock it stands on brings them light, hope and a future. Isabel and Tom are both oceans that are drawn together by a light and driven apart by one. The reader is in on a secret with Isabel and Tom which is gradually revealed to others in the novel. As someone who had difficulty conceiving a child and experienced a traumatic labour, I could really empathise with Isabel's plight but could also understand the conflict that Tom feels and sympathise with the baby's biological family. Some parts had me unshamedly reaching for the tissues because these characters really get under your skin. The secret creates so many questions - Is right to carry on even when it is wrong? Can the guilt of the past be healed by the actions of the future? Only by reading the book will you know and as you do, you question what you would do in that situation. This book raises so many questions, making it a richer, thought provoking text.
Two areas of the book which I would like to mention are the passages dealing with the War, dealt with tenderly but still showing the brutality and futility of war. Many books concentrate solely on the British/American involvement and other nationalities and countries are invariable overlooked, so it was good to see a book focus on the war from an Australian perspective. The other aspect which before reading I wouldn't have been interested in is the routine and role of a lightkeeper. This is covered quite fully, the author having done her research even to the scientific aspect of the light itself made easy for all non science readers like myself. I was ultimately fascinated about such a place and the role of the keeper, and how they endured the isolation they experienced. This is a début novel from an author that I feel has much more to give and look forward to reading what comes next.
On his first visit to the lighthouse, he stops at the nearest port town and meets Isabel Graysmark. Their courtship is a protracted affair, with no communication other than letters every three months. The isolation of their love is very strong and depicted very well by the author. It was clear that Isabel and Tom were meant to be together and that they could fight anything that was brought against them. However, tragedy strikes them more than once, but despite everything the lighthouse and the rock it stands on brings them light, hope and a future. Isabel and Tom are both oceans that are drawn together by a light and driven apart by one. The reader is in on a secret with Isabel and Tom which is gradually revealed to others in the novel. As someone who had difficulty conceiving a child and experienced a traumatic labour, I could really empathise with Isabel's plight but could also understand the conflict that Tom feels and sympathise with the baby's biological family. Some parts had me unshamedly reaching for the tissues because these characters really get under your skin. The secret creates so many questions - Is right to carry on even when it is wrong? Can the guilt of the past be healed by the actions of the future? Only by reading the book will you know and as you do, you question what you would do in that situation. This book raises so many questions, making it a richer, thought provoking text.
Two areas of the book which I would like to mention are the passages dealing with the War, dealt with tenderly but still showing the brutality and futility of war. Many books concentrate solely on the British/American involvement and other nationalities and countries are invariable overlooked, so it was good to see a book focus on the war from an Australian perspective. The other aspect which before reading I wouldn't have been interested in is the routine and role of a lightkeeper. This is covered quite fully, the author having done her research even to the scientific aspect of the light itself made easy for all non science readers like myself. I was ultimately fascinated about such a place and the role of the keeper, and how they endured the isolation they experienced. This is a début novel from an author that I feel has much more to give and look forward to reading what comes next.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
The story takes place in Australia, set just after the First World War. Tom Sherbourne is the lighthouse keeper of a remote light many miles off the coast. He meets and marries a local girl, Isabel, during shore leave and she comes to join him on the island. One day a boat washes ashore with a dead man and a tiny baby. The story then charts the implications of the choices they make that day.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is beautifully written and the descriptions brought the locations to life for me. The characters are well-rounded and my sympathies changed with their decisions as I progressed through the unravelling of the story. I was hooked from the beginning, the style in which it is written keeps you wanting to know more and carry on reading. I loved the descriptions of Janus Island, the beauty, the remoteness, the wildness of the weather and of Tom's duties as lighthouse keeper.
Have no hesitation in recommending this - a great story well-told.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is beautifully written and the descriptions brought the locations to life for me. The characters are well-rounded and my sympathies changed with their decisions as I progressed through the unravelling of the story. I was hooked from the beginning, the style in which it is written keeps you wanting to know more and carry on reading. I loved the descriptions of Janus Island, the beauty, the remoteness, the wildness of the weather and of Tom's duties as lighthouse keeper.
Have no hesitation in recommending this - a great story well-told.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I have a real weakness for novels set on or by the sea and so I was always going to want to read ML Stedman's debut novel The Light Between Oceans but, as I immersed myself in its mood and atmosphere, it touched much more of a nerve than that. This is a novel that will keep you awake at night, both reading and savouring it and then thinking about it once it's done.
Tom Sherbourne is a lighthouse keeper on tiny Janus Island, off the Australian coast. It is the 1920s and, as a single man, Tom is content to maintain the light in isolation for months on end, with months between deliveries of provisions, and work through his demons left to him by the trenches of the First World War. But then, while on leave, he falls in love with the vibrant Isabel. They marry and she returns to Janus and they live a happy life together on their little island, marred by one sadness: their inability to have a baby that lives. Then, one day, a boat drifts onto the island containing a dead man and a small living baby. On this isolated rock, and with Isabel as vulnerable as she is after losing another child, it doesn't take much for matters to get out of hand. A decision is made, with excuses at first and finally with denial, and Lucy is taken into the hearts of Isabel and Tom.
This is a time when nothing in families is simple. Everyone seems to have lost someone thanks to the war. Isabel's brothers were both killed within days of each other and so Lucy doesn't just fill a hole in Isabel's life but also in those of grandparents. The joy that Lucy brings is matched, of course, by guilt - deep, aggravating constant guilt. As time goes on, it becomes harder to ignore the suffering and loss that Lucy's real mother must be enduring, compounded as this is by the mystery of the dead man in the boat. Reading The Light Between Oceans, you just know that this cannot end well for everyone or indeed for anyone. Not everything can stay on the island.
The Light Between Oceans is brilliantly written, evoking perfectly life on the island and on the almost equally remote mainland. This is a small community and relationships are complex. The joy and pain that Lucy brings in equal measure is quite heartbreaking to read and, as the novel progresses and consequences take shape, with ramifications for so many people, it defies you to stay dry-eyed. However, this isn't a depressing novel, it's written too beautifully and its landscapes and people are too striking. Tom is our observer and through him we witness so many changes in Isabel as well as the growing child. But as we watch his family, it becomes evermore difficult to ignore Tom's increasing distance from it.
The Light Between Oceans is an extraordinary debut that more than rewards the emotion that you'll invest in it. This review is from a review copy for which I'm grateful.
Tom Sherbourne is a lighthouse keeper on tiny Janus Island, off the Australian coast. It is the 1920s and, as a single man, Tom is content to maintain the light in isolation for months on end, with months between deliveries of provisions, and work through his demons left to him by the trenches of the First World War. But then, while on leave, he falls in love with the vibrant Isabel. They marry and she returns to Janus and they live a happy life together on their little island, marred by one sadness: their inability to have a baby that lives. Then, one day, a boat drifts onto the island containing a dead man and a small living baby. On this isolated rock, and with Isabel as vulnerable as she is after losing another child, it doesn't take much for matters to get out of hand. A decision is made, with excuses at first and finally with denial, and Lucy is taken into the hearts of Isabel and Tom.
This is a time when nothing in families is simple. Everyone seems to have lost someone thanks to the war. Isabel's brothers were both killed within days of each other and so Lucy doesn't just fill a hole in Isabel's life but also in those of grandparents. The joy that Lucy brings is matched, of course, by guilt - deep, aggravating constant guilt. As time goes on, it becomes harder to ignore the suffering and loss that Lucy's real mother must be enduring, compounded as this is by the mystery of the dead man in the boat. Reading The Light Between Oceans, you just know that this cannot end well for everyone or indeed for anyone. Not everything can stay on the island.
The Light Between Oceans is brilliantly written, evoking perfectly life on the island and on the almost equally remote mainland. This is a small community and relationships are complex. The joy and pain that Lucy brings in equal measure is quite heartbreaking to read and, as the novel progresses and consequences take shape, with ramifications for so many people, it defies you to stay dry-eyed. However, this isn't a depressing novel, it's written too beautifully and its landscapes and people are too striking. Tom is our observer and through him we witness so many changes in Isabel as well as the growing child. But as we watch his family, it becomes evermore difficult to ignore Tom's increasing distance from it.
The Light Between Oceans is an extraordinary debut that more than rewards the emotion that you'll invest in it. This review is from a review copy for which I'm grateful.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Really impressive debut
The Light Between Oceans is a really impressive debut from Stedman. The story charts the implications of a momentous decision made by Tom and his young wife Isabel to keep a baby... Read more
Published 7 days ago by Max
a beautiful debut
this is a beautiful novel about a story of love, loss and betrayal. it's a brilliant debut it made me cry and i couldn't put it down.
Published 9 days ago by michelle
Well worth reading
Just finished reading this book - I thought it was really wonderful. Brilliant descriptive writing -her descriptions of nature and of the people who battle nature and their inner... Read more
Published 9 days ago by Rebecca MacKian
spellbinding, beautifully written debut novel
The cover of the book drew me to it, as well as the very reasonable price (hardly any more expensive than a paperback). And my instinct proved me right. Read more
Published 14 days ago by George S. Dodds-smith
A morally absorbing read!
Good people, bad choices. As a writer, I'm fascinated by ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. People who had lived during the World Wars is a case in point. Read more
Published 17 days ago by Peckleng Elaine Chiew
wonderful and moving
beautifully written and heartbreaking. No facile answers to this dilemma No sentimentality but i cried at the later chapters. A fabulous and convincing novel.
Published 17 days ago by Linda D G MASTERS
What Would I Do?
As I was reading this I kept thinking,"What would I do in this situation?" and I really don't know what I would have done if I'd been Isabel. Read more
Published 21 days ago by C. M. Collier
Beautiful and evocative
On a remote island off the western Australian coast, young lighthouse keeper Tom and his wife Isabel face a life changing choice in the aftermath of tragedy. Read more
Published 21 days ago by P. Stokes
Love and its Dilemmas
There is a great sense of place in this novel. The lighthouse-keeper's existence on the isolated Janus Island, and the mainland town of Partageuse with its 1920's post-war... Read more
Published 22 days ago by Sabina
A fabulous book
I absolutely loved this book. It is beautifully written and the story it tells is utterly captivating. Read more
Published 25 days ago by jackiejp
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