Book Review

I can't believe that its April already - this year is going even quicker than ever.

As I'm now bogged down in sorting out accounts for the end of the financial year, I thought that a book review would make more interesting reading than what I'm up to at the moment.

So here it is, The Light Between Oceans by M L Steadman

This is a story about a lighthouse keeper and his wife, based in Australia, and it was on a recent Richard & Judy Bookclub list.

Tom and his wife Izzy live a secluded life.  They only receive provisions by boat once every six months and are allowed home leave once every three years.  But despite this, initially, they are happy. Tom is a WWI survivor, and after the horrors of the war, he is content to live a peaceful, ordered life.  And Izzy is happy with Tom. A child would make her life perfect. But Izzy has a series of miscarriages which devastate her.  Then, one day, shortly after miscarrying late in her pregnancy, a boat washes up on the shore.  In the boat are a man and a baby.  The man is dead but the baby is alive.

What should Tom and Izzy do?  Should they report the incident and give the baby to the authorities, to be brought up in an institution if there are no other living relatives?  Or should they take a chance to create their own happiness? Their decision has devastating consequences, for both themselves and others.

This book is described as compelling, gripping and heartbreaking.  At the beginning though, I found it a bit slow.  It is beautifully written and the atmosphere is vivid, but I kept wondering where this story could go.  About half way into it though, everything changed, and from then on I didn’t want to put the book down. 

It is a story of love and loss, and what can happen when someone breaks your trust. 

I’m not one to abandon books when I’m half way through.  I’m always optimistic that they will improve.  Sometimes I’m disappointed but in this case I wasn’t. Definitely worth a read.