The Light Between Oceans

Did you ever wonder what you would do if you found a baby in the bottom of a boat driven by a dead man? What if you were sure, or thought you were sure, the baby had no mother? What if you really really wanted to keep the baby and you knew you would give it the best life you could possibly give?

 

Isabelle knew exactly what she would do in this situation; she only had to convince her husband, Tom, first.

 

Tom and Isabelle Sherbourne lived as light keepers on Janus Rock, nearly a full day journey to mainland Australia. They lived an isolated life of peace but after two painful miscarriages and one still birth Isabelle was beside herself with grief. When a boat was washes up on shore containing a baby and a dead man, Isabelle doesn’t think twice about keeping the child. Tom, on the other hand needs a little persuasion.

 

The Light Between Oceans is a fantastic read filled with mystery, love, deception, and decisions with devastating consequences. The kind of book that makes you sad when it is over and leaves you deeply tempted to open the front cover to begin again.

 

Historical Value- 2
Emotional Value- 5
Entertainment Value- 4
Personal character Value- 5
Age recommendation- Teen – Adult

 

“But how? How can you just get over these things, darling?…You’ve had so much strife but you’re always happy. How do you do it?’ ‘I choose to…I can leave myself to rot in the past, spend my time hating people for what happened, like my father did, or I can forgive and forget.’ ‘But it’s not that easy.’
He smiled that Frank smile. ‘Oh, but my treasure, it is so much less exhausting. You only have to forgive once. To resent, you have to do it all day, every day. You have to keep remembering all the bad things…I would have to make a list, a very, very long list and make sure I hated the people on it the right amount. That I did a proper job of hating, too: very Teutonic! No’ – his voice became sober- ‘we always have a choice. All of us.'” p.323”
― M.L. Stedman, The Light Between Oceans

 

“No one ever has or ever will travel quite the same path on earth…”
― M.L. Stedman, The Light Between Oceans

 

“That was the only thing that had got him through the four years of blood and madness: Know exactly where your gun is when you doze for ten minutes in your dugout; always check your gas mask; see that your men have understood their orders to the letter. You don’t think ahead in years or months: you think about this hour and maybe the next. Anything else is speculation” p. 33”
― M.L. Stedman, The Light Between Oceans