The Light Between OceansThe 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 Oceansis exquisite and unforgettable, a deeply moving novel. |
Contents
Section 1 | 3 |
Section 2 | 9 |
Section 3 | 16 |
Section 4 | 27 |
Section 5 | 35 |
Section 6 | 39 |
Section 7 | 51 |
Section 8 | 56 |
Section 20 | 172 |
Section 21 | 186 |
Section 22 | 195 |
Section 23 | 202 |
Section 24 | 208 |
Section 25 | 217 |
Section 26 | 228 |
Section 27 | 241 |
Section 9 | 64 |
Section 10 | 73 |
Section 11 | 85 |
Section 12 | 100 |
Section 13 | 106 |
Section 14 | 113 |
Section 15 | 118 |
Section 16 | 129 |
Section 17 | 137 |
Section 18 | 158 |
Section 19 | 167 |
Section 28 | 251 |
Section 29 | 264 |
Section 30 | 272 |
Section 31 | 279 |
Section 32 | 291 |
Section 33 | 300 |
Section 34 | 308 |
Section 35 | 316 |
Section 36 | 327 |