The Light Between Oceans

I’m fascinated by lighthouses. This interest was fostered by my late father, a merchant seaman whose life depended many times on their guidance. So, it was easy to love this book, where I learned about their inner workings through Tom, the meticulous lighthouse keeper.

When he was joined on his remote island by his wife, Isobel,  it was the inner workings of their minds that captivated me as they struggled with an ocean that had offered them a longed-for child and a crisis of conscience that was exposed in its searing complexity by the illuminating lighthouse beam.  

This is one of those books that can set off a fire of controversy because of the choices made by its characters, and I love that about it.

The main couple’s marriage lies on a foundation of grief that includes war, extreme isolation, and multiple pregnancy losses. The story dives into the way grief shapes us, as well as the morality of how much we should let our grief shape our choices.

I loved the characters, the moving plot, and the moral conundrum of this book.

This book was my own personal cheerleader and inspiration when I was writing my own book, because the place in this novel was a legitimate character alongside the humans; the landscapes, the sea, the lighthouse, the storms, the isolation... all of those elements affected me as much as the characters did, so it became a perfect combination of things to make for a compelling narrative of love and loss. This book was on my nightstand the entire time I was writing my novel, and even though I never met her, and probably never will, ML Stedman will always be one… show more.

Secrets. Secrets. Secrets. 

How long can you live with your secrets? And how well? As a psychiatrist, I can’t get enough of the internal angst we glean from books that just don’t translate well into movies. 

What makes a decision right or wrong? Is it the consequences of that decision? Is it the intent behind the decision? 

While the secrets the protagonists harbor in The Light Between Oceans and my books are different, the emotional turmoil is eerily similar.

Imagine living in a lighthouse and calling it home! Yet lightkeeper, Tom Sherbourne and wife Isabel create an unforgettable refuge atop the rocks of Janus in Australia at the end of WW2. When a baby washes ashore in a boat after a storm, their lives change forever and the definition of home is redefined. Riveting and emotional, this novel is based on a true story you won’t soon forget. Now a major motion picture. 

The young couple in The Light Between Oceans live on the barren premises of a lighthouse, in the harsh light of a treeless island. Between the polarities of sea and sky, they evade a moral dilemma. I can feel their quandry as clearly as I can see the glittering waves in an extraordinary place whose beauty cloaks danger.

One miscarriage is unsettling, and a series of them can be severely disrupting to a woman and to her marriage. So what if, unexpectedly, a baby appeared at their doorstep? The possible moral choices that must be made would be complex and powerful, and would affect many lives then and into the future.

This novel brings us into the lives of such a couple. Living on an otherwise unpopulated island, they see a rowboat washed ashore that contains a dead man and a live infant. I found compelling the moral dilemma which confronts them: try to find the infant’s mother,… show more.