The Light Between Oceans

The Light Between Oceans (#335) by M. L. Stedman is a powerful morality tale set in Australia just after World War I. 

Tom Sherbourne returns to Australia, whole in body, but damaged in mind and soul by events at home and during the war.  He meets and marries Isabel when he is assigned to a light keeper's post at Janus Light, off the southwestern coast.  Their isolation is complete until the day a small boat washes up on shore with a the body of dead man and a tiny infant girl on board.  Isabel is suffering grievously from two previous miscarriages and a still birth just days before, and begs her husband not to report that the baby is found alive.  That decision  is the crux of the book as the consequences of Tom's action affect not just their own lives, but many others.

No character in this book is totally bad, nor totally good, yet the author manages to convey the emotional impact on those most involved in this drama in a truly empathetic way.  I was torn between how I thought the plot should go, just as the author intended.  There are no easy choices in life; we can just do the best we can with what we know at the time and hope for the best, or what we can live with.

This book did provide a fascinating glimpse into a lifestyle that is long gone now, but which touches anyone who has ever seen a lighthouse either on shore, or on a remote island.  The privations of such a life are easy to imagine, but M.L. Stedman has done a marvelous job at showing what the rewards of such a life could be as well.

A complex book with much to ponder.  Well worth reading thoughtfully.