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The Light Between Oceans [Paperback]

M L Stedman (Author)
4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (839 customer reviews)
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Book Description

Publication Date: 9 May 2013

Richard and Judy summer bookclub read 2013, Goodreads category winner, and longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2013, stunning story of a lighthouse keeper and his wife who face a life-changing moral dilemma.

A boat washes up on the shore of a remote lighthouse keeper's island. It holds a dead man - and a crying baby. The only two islanders, Tom and his wife Izzy, are about to make a devastating decision.

They break the rules and follow their hearts. What happens next will break yours.

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Product details

  • Paperback: 464 pages
  • Publisher: Black Swan (9 May 2013)
  • Language: Unknown
  • ISBN-10: 0552778478
  • ISBN-13: 978-0552778473
  • Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.6 x 2.6 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (839 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 263 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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› Visit Amazon's M. L. Stedman Page
M. L. Stedman
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Review

"Irresistible... seductive... a high concept plot that keeps you riveted from the first page" (Oprah Magazine)

"A love story that is both persuasive and tender" (The Sunday Times)

"A moving tale. One of this year's must-reads" (Stylist Magazine)

"An extraordinary book... as inevitable as Hardy at his most doom-laden. And as unforgettable" (Guardian)

"It is not only the plot that it so compelling ... What makes this wonderful novel stand out is the cast of emotionally fragile characters, all of whom inspire tremendous sympathy in the reader" (Daily Express)

Book Description

Richard and Judy summer bookclub read 2013, Goodreads category winner, and longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2013, stunning story of a lighthouse keeper and his wife who face a life-changing moral dilemma.
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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
271 of 278 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars An exceptionally moving and well written debut 9 Jun 2012
By R. A. Davison TOP 1000 REVIEWER
Format:Kindle Edition|Verified Purchase
The Light Between Oceans is a post WW1 Australian set novel about Tom Sherbourne who having been demobbed gets a job as a lighthouse keeper on Janus Rock. Soon after he marries and he and his wife come to love their isolated idyll. Their paradise becomes tainted by their inability to have children and following her third miscarriage Isabel is cracking under the strain of the grief, when one night a boat is shipwrecked on their shores..... it contains a dead man and a newborn baby. Believing God has answered their prayers Isabel persuades Tom not to report the wreck and they pass the child off as their own.

But though he loves the child, the actions wrack Tom with guilt for years to come.....

This novel is a stunning debut on the part of M.L Steadman and covers such a range of emotions and reactions. Guilt, grief, sacrifice, morality, love, marriage, parenthood, loss, time, change, duty, truth. Above all it is achingly human, and provokes the same dilemma in its reader as in its protagonist.

I am quite a cynic these days, and on top of that a well read one, so it isn't that often these days that I find a novel with the capacity to move me to tears, but this novel did. Its location is atmospheric and beautifully drawn, the sea and the windswept isolation of the island; even with the unusual parameters of the storyline the novel feels gutwrenchingly real, of a place and time and characters who existed as opposed to an entirely fictitious prospect.

Enormously moving and brilliantly told. I won't forget this book in a hurry nor the emotions that rose within me as I read it. A quality piece of writing and a quality novel, I hugely recommend you purchase this book. 10/10
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30 of 31 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating story 15 Sep 2012
By Mrs. Helen Connor
Format:Kindle Edition|Verified Purchase
I ordered this book based on the reviews on Amazon and wasn't disappointed. The plot is fascinating; the dilemma when the boat with a baby and a dead man is found. The reader knows instinctively what will happen but we don't have a clue what will be the outcome of the decision. This is a love story, a mystery and is just so poignant throughout. the story stays with you for some time after you've read it. It is beautifully written and a good piece of literature. Highly recommended.
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109 of 118 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars 'He's in a place where there's just wind and waves and light...' 24 April 2012
By L. H. Healy TOP 100 REVIEWER VINE VOICE
Format:Hardcover
'He's in a place where there's just wind and waves and light, and the intricate machinery that keeps the flame burning and the lantern turning. Always turning, always looking over its shoulder.'

Tom Sherbourne is haunted by traumatic memories of his horrific experiences in World War I. He is one of the men who have returned to Australia, as so many did not. He is not physically scarred, 'but he's scarred all the same, having to live in the same skin as the man who did the things that needed to be done back then.' Now, looking to his future, he becomes a lighthouse keeper. He takes a position on remote Janus Rock, off the coast of South-Western Australia, with Point Partageuse being the nearest community on the mainland. Partageuse is a place where everyone knows everyone else, and where, after the war, 'gradually, once again lives wove together into a practical sort of fabric..', where '..Janus Rock, linked only by the store boat four times a year, dangled off the edge of the cloth like a loose button that might easily plummet to Antarctica.'

He meets local girl Isabel Graysmark whilst he is on the mainland, they correspond with each other when Tom returns to the lighthouse, and they fall in love and marry. For Isabel, the war has instilled a sense of urgency into life: 'If the war had taught her anything, it was to take nothing for granted...life could snatch away the things you treasured, and there was no getting them back.' Moving forward in time to the mid 1920s, we meet them living out on Janus Rock together, with a sadness hanging between them that they have no children, Isabel having suffered miscarriages. Read more ›
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17 of 18 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Moving, powerful, evocative 4 Sep 2012
By Jane Snow
Format:Hardcover
Robustly old-fashioned storytelling, big-hearted and self-assured. When Tom and Izzy Sherbourne recover a marooned boat on the remote Australian coastline in 1926, they are astonished to find a baby within. They swiftly adopt the child as their own, but its history is far more tangled than they could have imagined, and soon the Sherbournes' world collides with that of 'their' baby's family.

I would dock it points for its unattractive jacket, but otherwise The Light Between Oceans is a triumph - really spellbinding fiction. The moral dilemmas are accessible and almost unbearably poignant, the period detail is spot-on, and the Sherbournes themselves make for heartbreaking heroes. It's a swift read, too, brimming with suspense and suffused with longing.
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72 of 79 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent debut 9 April 2012
By Stracs TOP 1000 REVIEWER VINE VOICE
Format:Hardcover|Vine Customer Review of Free Product (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? Read more ›
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars Different and possible!
A truly lovely read, and a surprising end- I only wished she could have lived to meet the now grown up child.
Published 6 hours ago by Mrs.J.M.Leader
5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful Read!
One of those special books that you occasionally find. Beautifully written and would recommend for book groups as lots to discuss.
Published 2 days ago by Anne
4.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful
I loved this book. I had a vivid picture of Janis Rock where the majority of the story is set because of the excellent description. Read more
Published 3 days ago by Nicola Radjenovic
3.0 out of 5 stars Quick
simple straightforward and although it finishes all too neatly it was a gentle enough read...but I don't think there is a question of right and wrong.... Read more
Published 3 days ago by GEZ MACLEOD
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book
This is a well researched book which portrays a story of life of an Australian first world veteran. The style of writing, the setting and the reasearch has given rise to a... Read more
Published 4 days ago by J. Howard
5.0 out of 5 stars Best read this year.
A most wonderful captivating story. Filled with breath taking happiness and abject sorrow. An 'unputdownable' read which left me thinking about it for weeks. Read more
Published 5 days ago by PollyG
5.0 out of 5 stars INTIGUING
I WOULD GIVE THIS 10 STARS!!!! THIS KEPT ME FASCINATED FROM THE BEGINNING TO THE END! I KEEP CHECKING TO SEE WHEN SHE HAS WRITTEN BOOK NO. 2.
Published 6 days ago by Anne Gibbon
5.0 out of 5 stars Very intriguing story
I come from a lighthouse family and found the conditions described in the book so extreme. I am so pleased we did not have to put up with such conditions during our time of... Read more
Published 7 days ago by magenta
4.0 out of 5 stars Great read
Clever tale that makes a great read - I could not put it down. The story is not always believable but it carries you through anyway
Published 8 days ago by Lorraine C.
4.0 out of 5 stars relate to the story
it is a good book, I recommend it…it is very touching I relate to some aspects of the story so it makes it even more interesting to read.
Published 9 days ago by rim
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