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)

Good story hard to understand reader

I enjoyed the story once it got going. It was a bit slow at first so you have to give it a bit of time to get moving. However, the reader was very hard to understand. He has a pleasant enough voice just he trails off and speaks so low that it's really hard to catch. Therefore I did miss import info at times and felt like I was playing catch up in figuring out what was happening. If I turned the volume up to hear the quiet parts the rest were cringe worthy loud. So I honestly only understood about 2/3 of the words and entire sentences were lost in the mumble. So if you have trouble in any way with hearing, skip this one and read it in print. My stars are given low for performance due to difficulty hearing it and one less star for story as it takes awhile to get interesting and I had to go back to it three times to get into it.

Lyrical, beautiful, and heartbreaking

What a wonderful book! The narrator was fantastic, he read the prose like poetry, gorgeous! The story is realistic and captivating, and filled with characters I had compassion for. I would highly recommend this book, and particularly the narrator.

Loved the story...but did the narrator have...

How could the performance have been better?

It sounded like the narrator had cotton in his mouth. It was so hard to understand so many of the words that I feel like I couldn't get the whole story.

Story tough to hear

The story was slow to start but once it picked up I didn't want it to end. The narrator was very difficult to hear and understand. More than once I nearly gave up. His words trail off at the end of each sentence as if he is whispering. And to add to that the accent made it hard to understand. I liked the book but recommend you read instead of listen to this one.

Loved the narration

I really enjoyed this book there were a couple of times that were a little slower (not slow) and then a couple I couldn't put down...the end is heartbreakingly beautiful 💕

Couldn't put it down!

Real characters, real situations, about understanding and doing the best for all involved, even if it hurts......

Can’t listen anymore ...

Story wonderful, but I can’t finish due to the horrible narration! Buying the book & read on my own!

Story was great - narration not so much

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

I liked that fact that the book, set in Australia, was read by someone with an Australian accent; however; at times, I found him difficult to understand and the volume was not consistent. He started sentences strong and then at times he was almost whispering so quietly that I had to adjust my volume. Also, I didn't care for the subtle lisp.

Narration

The narrator would sometimes softly drop off senteces making it difficult to understand but good overall.

Amazing! Beautiful! Heart wrenching!

Headline says it all. Tragic, painful, yet redemptive. Noah Taylor is a brilliant narrator. Highly recommended.