NEW BOOK REVIEW


The Light Between Oceans ... by M.L. Stedman


 

"Haunting...Stedman draws the reader into her emotionally complex story right from the beginning, with lush descriptions of this savage and beautiful landscape, and vivid characters with whom we can readily empathize. Hers is a stunning and memorable debut."





OUR REVIEW


Linda       
The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman was a fascinating story of lonely and sad people that intersected at the right time and the right place. Author Stedman sets up a key part of the story in the very fist chapter, along with past history of one of the main characters.

Living on a small island taking care of and maintaining a lighthouse although lonely and barren, a newly married couple adjust to a new way of life, in fact they treat it as a new found freedom. Record keeping of daily life on the island and sea incidents were extremely important and kept as a public record. The choices of right and wrong of these records were the key points of this story. Guilt ridden emotions crept into various lives, and decisions that were made had devastation consequences.

I read this story for book club and found it a unsettling story, but pushed through it. Even watching the movie trailer, the content of the story was not appealing to me although it had a Christian theme woven within the plot.


                                   Amazon Review

4 comments:

Erica said...

Nice review. I think I will have to check out this title.

Olivia's Catastrophe said...

I am glad you could enjoy this novel so much! The cover is absolutely gorgeous. And even though it focuses on only a few specific characters, it sounds like this one didn't get boring at all. Brilliant review x

Dinh@Arlene's Book Club said...

Too bad you found this a hard read and you had to push through it.
I read this book last year and really enjoyed the complexity of the story. I loved how it questioned our morals and how one decision can change a whole slew of things.

Unknown said...

You are right about the complexity of the story! My problem with reading is that I seem to actually put my own thoughts and feelings into this read and take it as a part of my life. Maybe that's what makes a great book, not too sure. I guess doing what was wrong and taking joy and happiness in it while hiding the bodies and not doing what was right got to me. Another women shouldn't keep someone else's child, but the husband knew what was right and wrong, as he let the real mother know about the baby with all his secret clues, as in revealing the spoon. The real mom went crazy for all those years, and then having the wife turn against her husband after all he did for her was almost unbearable...but thankfully we know what happened. Yes, the ending did make me cry, but all in all a very stressful book for me.

Oh dear, wait until you read my reviews two more of our other book club picks coming up later. We've had some pretty lively discussions!