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)

Fantastic story!

This is a book which makes you care about each of the characters and what happens to them. There are no villains to hate, just flawed human beings who make mistakes and the consequences they face because of them. You won't be able to put this one down.

The light between ocean

Better than I thought and would definitely recommend it to friends I definitely wasn't expecting the ending

Good story eventually, but bad narration

The narrator was so hard to follow. He didn’t speak clearly and spoke so softly at times that I ended up reading the hard copy.

While the story took awhile to get good, it was really good in the end.

Voice

Very uneven volume, hard to hear and understand at times. Too late and then loud with other voices.

Have your Tissues or Hankie Nearby

A beautiful yet heart wrenching book. Great likable character study with empathy on both sides. Love books about lighthouse keepers as I have ancestors who were ones. This will stay in my thoughts for a long time.

Matched Up With Movie

I was amazed at how well the novel and the movie matched up so closely! That rarely happens. I had difficulty sometimes because the narrator’s voice trailed off quite a bit at the end of sentences. But all in all a wonderful story!

loved it

this is an amazing story...I don't understand why so many people say the narrator was horrible...I didn't feel like he was bad at all.

Absolutely beautiful! I enjoyed every minute.

The narrator was good, but the production was a little too quiet.
Even using an external speaker, I repeatedly hAd to hit the review button to listen to ends of sentences lost to low volume or swallowed by the reader.

Excellent performance

Such a story of heartache. The audio performance is so well done. It pulls you right in.

wonderful story

while the book was a little slow getting into it built beautifully. the twists and turns were very compelling and all led to a wonderful end