Book Review: The Light Between Oceans by M.L Stedman

What’s it about?

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.

 

 

My thoughts

This was recommended to me by a fellow book blogger as a good choice for a book club read, so I picked it for my book club choice.

If you’re the kind of person that sees everything in black and white then this novel will test you. The line on the front of the book “this is a story about right and wrong and how sometimes they look the same”, firstly ask yourself does it? Isn’t wrong always wrong? Can you ever justify blurring that line?  And therein lies the moral and legal dilemma at the heart of this story.

Doing the wrong thing for the right reason…is this even acceptable? This book raises all these types of questions which did make it an excellent choice for a book group discussion although this didn’t entirely go as I expected it too.  Some members of our group were categorically against Isabel and Tom’s decision and very unforgiving whilst me and one other were a little more understanding and were prepared to bend the rules….

Ultimately the people I most felt sorry for was Isabel’s parents, Hannah and of course, Lucy-Grace.  A different time with a distinct lack of support for any kind of mental health issue or child welfare services makes this book even more heart-breaking which brought tears to my eyes by the very end.

As someone who has a romanticised love for lighthouses I found the scenes and information about the lights really interesting and they were obviously very well researched.

Again, I got swept along by the story and totally missed the little hints that would inevitably lead to working out what was coming next…I never pick up on the darn clues!! 😉

Will you feel compassionate, empathetic or revel in their comeuppance? If you knew you could get away with it, would you try? Simply, yet beautifully written an overall a solid 4* read for me and I’ll definitely be watching the movie later this year.

Watch the trailer here

Links: Goodreads | Amazon

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