What kobo.com says:
The debut of a stunning new voice in fiction— a novel both heartbreaking and transcendent
After four harrowing years on the Western Front, Tom Sherbourne returns to Australia and takes a job as the lighthouse keeper on Janus Rock, nearly half a day’s journey from the coast. To this isolated island, where the supply boat comes once a season and shore leaves are granted every other year at best, Tom brings a young, bold, and loving wife, Isabel. Years later, after two miscarriages and one stillbirth, the grieving Isabel hears a baby’s cries on the wind. A boat has washed up onshore carrying a dead man and a living baby.
Tom, whose records as a lighthouse keeper are meticulous and whose moral principles have withstood a horrific war, wants to report the man and infant immediately. But Isabel has taken the tiny baby to her breast. Against Tom’s judgment, they claim her as their own and name her Lucy. When she is two, Tom and Isabel return to the mainland and are reminded that there are other people in the world. Their choice has devastated one of them.
M. L. Stedman’s mesmerizing, beautifully written novel seduces us into accommodating Isabel’s decision to keep this “gift from God.” And we are swept into a story about extraordinarily compelling characters seeking to find their North Star in a world where there is no right answer, where justice for one person is another’s tragic loss.
The Light Between Oceans is exquisite and unforgettable, a deeply moving novel.
What I Say: This book was a fairly easy read for me. I did cheat on my Kobo as I have had this on my bookshelf since before I started my new job. I started it last Friday, read a ton at the cottage over the long weekend and finished it by Weds. I love the setting of the novel on a remote island lighthouse post. I love the story of love between husband and wife, the love for children and how love can consume you. The characters were well written had me wrapped up in them and that helped me devour the story. Note to self: stop reading the ends of books in public where you have to wipe your tears away as people stare!
My favourite passage taught me a lesson.
Although I think I’ve forgiven people in my past who have hurt me I realized that I do hold onto pain & feelings of hurt. To forgive means you only have to do so once and it is our wonderful God given choice (from free will) to be able to do that for others and for ourselves.
How great a relief it is to just forgive?