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)