Compelling and provocative, it raises many questions about right and wrong, and the human heart's capacity for love and forgiveness. This story drew me in from the first page. Stedman's The Light Between Oceans is a top pick among BookBrowse readers! Here's what they have to say: With 27 out of 30 reviewers rating it 4 or 5 stars, Margot L. Stedman's mesmerizing, beautifully written debut 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. When she is two, Tom and Isabel return to the mainland and are reminded that there are other people in the world. Against Tom's judgment, they claim her as their own and name her Lucy. But Isabel has taken the tiny baby to her breast. 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. A boat has washed up onshore carrying a dead man and a living baby. Years later, after two miscarriages and one stillbirth, the grieving Isabel hears a baby's cries on the wind. 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. After four harrowing years fighting on the Western Front, Tom Sherbourne returns home to take a job as the lighthouse keeper on Janus Rock, nearly half a day's journey from the coast.

Winner of the BookBrowse 2012 Best Fiction Book AwardĪ captivating, beautiful, and stunningly accomplished debut novel that opens in 1918 Australia - the story of a lighthouse keeper and his wife who make one devastating choice that forever changes two worlds.Īustralia, 1926.

The light between oceans author