Book Review: The Light Between Oceans

Hey Franndss! 

I am really excited to tell you about this next book!

From Goodreads:

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

If you're a mommy, take note: This book really tugs at your heart strings.

It was really sad to read the mother's emotions.

Can  you imagine losing three babies, before you even get a chance to hold them and have them grasp your finger in that special little death grip only new babies have?

Imagine living on a secluded island with your husband and after losing your third child,

a baby washes up on shore in a boat, the only other passenger is her dead father?

What would you DO?

There's no communication, there's no way to get word about the child until months later when your supply ship comes in. That's alot of  time to fall in love with the child.

Enough to want to keep her for your own...

Can you imagine?

I don't want to give too much away but I will tell you that I think the author did a perfect job of discovering all the reasons why Tom and Isabel chose to keep the baby as their own.

And why that decision would walk beside them every day of the rest of their lives.

It was easy to understand Isabel's yearning to be a mother and to keep the baby. What was also interesting was the many layers of Tom's characters. I usually don't connect very well to male characters, especially if the story is being told from his point of view. But Tom is such an interesting character. A mother who was deemed "unfit" and time in the war has left Tom a loner who only wants to do what is right and follow the rules leaves him with guilt after the baby arrives that he can't bear. And who can blame him? But can you blame him for keeping her?

Here's a passages that I dog eared because it perfectly sums up the relationship with Isabel and the baby, which is the catalyst of the story:  

"The simple fact was that, sure as a graft will take and fuse to a rosebush,  the root stock of Isabel's motherhood-her every drive and instinct, left raw and exposed by the recent stillbirth- had grafted seamlessly to this scion, this baby who needed mothering. Grief and distance bond the wond, perfe ting the bond with a speed only nature could engineer."

My advice: Read it!

I give this books a glass that is

It's great and the only reason the glass isn't all the way full is because it was a little dry/boring at some points and I was disappointed in the ending.

Here's something new and exciting!

I have come up with a new way to rate books.

If you really knew me (or if you follow me on Twitter)

You way notice that I love wine and coffee.

So I've decided to combine my love of drinks and reading to make

my rating system. Click here to read all about it!!