The Light Between Oceans

A Novel

By: M. L. Stedman

Narrated by: Noah Taylor

Length: 10 hrs and 22 mins

Publisher's summary

A captivating, beautiful, and stunningly accomplished debut novel - the story of a lighthouse keeper and his wife who make one devastating choice that forever changes two worlds.

In 1918, after four harrowing years on the Western Front, Tom Sherbourne returns to Australia to take a job as the lighthouse keeper on remote Janus Rock. To this isolated island, where the supply boat comes only four times a year and shore leaves are granted every other year at best, Tom brings a young, bold, and loving wife, Isabel. Three years later, after two miscarriages and one stillbirth, the grieving Isabel is tending the grave of her newly lost infant when she hears a baby’s cries on the wind. A boat has washed up on shore carrying a dead man and a living baby. Tom, whose records as a lighthouse keeper are meticulous and whose moral principles have withstood a horrific war, wants to report the dead man and the infant immediately. But Isabel has taken the tiny baby to her breast. Against Tom’s judgment, they claim the child as their own and name her Lucy, but a rift begins to grow between them. When Lucy is two, Tom and Isabel return to the mainland and are reminded that there are other people in the world…and one of them is desperate to find her lost baby.

M.L. Stedman’s extraordinarily compelling characters, still trying to make sense of life in the wake of so much death in the war, are imperfect people seeking to find their north star in a world of incomprehensible complexity.

©2012 Grasshill Communications. (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

“M.L. Stedman’s The Light Between Oceans is a beautiful novel about isolation and courage in the face of enormous loss. It gets into your heart stealthily, until you stop hoping the characters will make different choices and find you can only watch, transfixed, as every conceivable choice becomes an impossible one. I couldn’t look away from the page and then I couldn’t see it, through tears. It’s a stunning debut.” (Maile Meloy, author of Both Ways Is the Only Way I Want It)

Great story!

I so enjoyed this book! I was caught up from the get-go! I recommended it in novel form to my book club and they loved it too!

Beautifully Tragic Tale

Loved the poignant story! The only issue I had was with the inconsistent volume in the narration. Some extremely quiet sections, followed by much louder sections made it occasionally painful to listen to. Otherwise, excellent.

Could they have found a worse narrator?

Where does The Light Between Oceans rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I just can't for the life of me understand how this guy was picked above all others to narrate this story. He wishes he was as good as awful. He trails off at the end of each sentence, mumbles and, as a bonus for us listeners, has a speech impediment.

Would you be willing to try another one of Noah Taylor’s performances?

Heck no. Run screaming from anything he has ever recorded.

Thought provoking novel

I ended up enjoying the book after contemplating giving it up within the first hour. The narrator was excellent when portraying voices but a little too monotone when just describing scenes. I ultimately became used to his manner of narrating but do think that element detracted a bit from my listening enjoyment.

Captivating

Beautiful love story that reminds us of forgiveness. I'm curious to see if the movie verison captures the story in the same way. A definite must read.

Loved it!

This was a Great book! I absolutely Loved it! I highly recommend it. Read it!

Enjoyed it, a heart-wrenching story!

I enjoyed the book and would recommend it. What a heart-wrenching story. I can't imagine the struggle for Tom, torn between protecting and pleasing his wife and revealing the truth of the situation and suffer the consequences. Performance was good. At first, the accent was hard to understand, but I got used to it rather quickly.

Had to Read It

What made the experience of listening to The Light Between Oceans the most enjoyable?

I had to read the book - the audible reader was wonderful but the accent was too strong for me to understand everything. I gave up.

I loved the narration!

Having read the harsh reviews of the narrator I feel compelled to strongly disagree. The narrator captures the spirit of Tom's essence brilliantly. The mild drop at the end of a sentence only increased the attention required to glean what he was so subtly offering. I felt it was a wonderful rendition of the complexities of a character reflecting traumas beyond his or anyone's understanding. Well done!

Excellent Story

Any additional comments?

I saw a lot of comments about the narrator. I liked his voice very much, but driving in a car with road noise, it was hard to hear the ends of his sentences. His voice tended to drop at the end, but after turning up the volume up a little and getting used to his accent, he had a great voice to match the story.