Book Review: The Light Between Oceans

After a rough childhood and years spent at the war front, Tom has put up an emotional wall.  He prefers a solitary life as a lighthouse keeper on a remote Australian island where social interaction in kept to a minimum.  Though he lets his guard down slightly when he meets Isabel, he is still comforted by the rigidity of rules and schedules.  They govern not only his job but his life, but love does not always heed such caution.

When a boat washes ashore their lonely island with a dead man and a baby inside, Isabel throws away the rules and insists on raising the child.  Torn between the love he has for his wife and his deep-seated need to adhere to his strict code of ethics, Tom agrees but is constantly haunted by the compulsion to tell the truth about the child they are raising as their own.  The lie they have been nursing for years threatens to ruin their marriage when they return to shore on leave.

M.L. Stedman's novel reminds us that there was a time (back in 1927 when the novel takes place) when were not so connected.  Complete isolation was a possibility for those who wanted it but even a simpler time does not make the ethical dilemmas like Tom and Isabel's any easier to decipher.

3 out of 5 stars.