The Light Between Oceans: a novel by M.L. Stedman

This month's meeting was a special treat as it was the first time we were able to congregate at our newest member's home.  Not surprisingly, Ellen was a wonderful hostess, creating a cozy atmosphere in which we shared our meal together and then gathered to discuss our book. The darling wooden lighthouse centerpiece on the lunch table surrounded by colorful shells and interesting rocks was creatively eye catching.  The meal was a perfect complement to the spring weather and our novel's setting of Australia.  We enjoyed lamb with mint jelly, asparagus, and potato salad.  We were then all treated to an Australian specialty dessert called Lamington cake - squares of sponge cake dipped in chocolate and then rolled in coconut.  For this blogger, that dessert combined all of her favorite dessert ingredients, almost like a giant Mounds bar!

Synopsis:
Living on a remote island off the coast of Australia in the late 1920's, a lighthouse keeper and his young wife, while grappling with the loss of their babies through multiple miscarriages, rescue a baby who has washed ashore in a boat along with a dead man.  Their decision to claim the baby as their own child will have a ripple effect which will reach beyond their little island and bring both joy and heartache for all who love that baby girl.

Comments:
Isabella's grief at the loss of her babies while living isolated from society, takes a heavy toll on her emotional stability and on her marriage. "She knew that if a wife lost a husband, there was a whole new word to describe who she was: she was now a widow.  A husband became a widower.  But if a parent lost a child, there was no special label for their grief.  They were still just a mother or a father, even if they no longer had a son or a daughter." (p. 122 Nook)  However, when baby Lucy-Grace washes ashore in a rowboat, Isabella is able to convince herself that this is God's answer to her prayers.  Her husband Tom is not as easily convinced, but his love for Isabella and his desire to see her happy and strong again, overrides his conscience just long enough to begin that dangerous course from which there will be no return without dire consequences.  Tom was proud of his job as a lighthouse keeper, a job which employed precision and strict protocol.  After his stint in the bloody war, Tom needed the security and stability which came from a job where every situation had a set of guidelines and regulations which he must follow.  It was the breach of protocol when he did not report finding the baby that began Tom's descent into his own personal torment and the slow undoing of their marriage.  While Tom suffered, his wife Isabella appeared to flourish and bloom in her assumed role as mother to Lucy-Grace.  "He stared at her, seized by the sensation that perhaps she didn't exist.  Perhaps none of this existed, for the inches between them seemed to divide two entirely different realities, and they no longer joined." (p. 176 Nook)

The author presented unique and challenging moral questions.  We were able to clearly see the dilemma, yet like her characters, we could not find the perfect answer to please both the moral issue and the little girl, whom we adored.  "Right and wrong can be like bloody snakes: so tangled up that you can't tell which is which until you've shot 'em both, and then it's too late." (p. 173 Nook)  Perhaps our inability to declare a black and white answer to this novel's dilemma only proves that both the characters and the gritty, complex situations in this plot were indeed realistic.

Similar to last month's book discussion, we once again found ourselves discussing the idea of what stays hidden in families.  "History is that which is agreed upon by mutual consent.  That's how life goes on--protected by the silence that anesthetizes shame." (p. 151 Nook)  We couldn't quite grasp all the details of Tom's past, but we certainly could relate to how his past had shaped his future.  "There are still more days to travel in this life.  And he knows that the man who makes the journey has been shaped by every day and every person along. the way.  Scars are just another kind of memory." (p. 317 Nook)

Ralph was a minor character in the book, but we all agreed that he played a vital role.  He doled out his pearls of wisdom only when asked, but his words were treasures.  He was a hard working boatman, salt of the earth in whom Tom found a true friend.

Memorable Quote:
Hannah asks Frank how he manages to remain happy despite all the strife in his life: "I choose to," he said.  "I can leave myself to rot in the past, spend my time hating people for what happened...or I can forgive and forget." Hannah responds, "But it's not that easy."  He smiled..."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....we always have a choice.  All of us." (p.300 Nook)  Words to live by!

FAB Rating: **** (4 out of 5 stars)
We were impressed with this first time author's ability to emotionally draw all of us into her story.  We found ourselves gritting our teeth in frustration while reading about certain events, crying with hurting characters, and our stomach in knots during tense situations.  With the different level of moral questions, the emotionally conflicted characters, and the setting of a time period where World War I haunts the entire book, we found ourselves with plenty to discuss.