August 2014 Host: Colleen
The Light Between Oceans by ML Stedman
Summary
Tom Sherbourne,
a World War 1 veteran, returns to his home in Australia and takes on a job as a
light keeper on Janus Rock, which is a half day trip from the shores of Western
Australia. It is a job of isolation as
shore leave is granted every other year and the supply boat comes to the island
just four times a year. Tom eventually brings a wife, Isabel, to the
island and she desperately wants to start a family; but she suffers through two
miscarriages and a stillbirth. While tending
their graves one day, Isabel hears a baby’s cry and they discover a shipwrecked
boat containing a baby and a dead man.
Isabel begs Tom to keep the baby and they rear the child as their own,
against Tom’s strong conviction that they should report the incident and try to
find the baby’s real parents. Three
years later, they go on furlough to the main land and learn of the baby’s
mother, who has been driven half mad from the disappearance long ago of her
husband and child. Tom and Isabel’s moral
dilemma affects all the other characters in the novel in terms of heartache,
loss, and grief. Stedman illustrates very
well the descriptions of the island, the time period (early 1900s), and the
life of a light keeper. Although this
book has a sad theme, it is beautifully written and we recommend it, especially
for book clubs as there are a number of moral issues that can be discussed.
Menu
Fruit and Cheese Plate
Salad
Seafood Broil
White Chocolate Raspberry Cake (courtesy of Tony's Market)