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. Narration wasn’t my favorite.

I am glad to see I wasn’t the only one who struggled to enjoy the narration.
I felt like the narrator had a mouth full of spit as he spoke. I’ve never had a narrator grate on me like this one. I feel bad admitting that but I felt him hard to listen to.
The story really was beautifully written though. I’d recommend the book regardless of the narration. Just because it wasn’t my cup of tea doesn’t mean another wouldn’t find the narration bearable.

Gripping story

sucked you in and ripped at your emotions. you will love and hate the ending. narration was sometimes garbled with the deep accent

Loved it, though consider paper copy too

I did love this book and the narrator (once I caught up with the accent). I admit this is one I switched to paper copy for the 2nd half simply because I wanted to stop and think about so many of the beautiful thoughts and phrases used by the writer. In audio, these whizzed by me too quickly. It's a savoring sort of read.

Remarkable and Heartfelt

Would you consider the audio edition of The Light Between Oceans to be better than the print version?

I could hear the narrator's voice sound as if he were getting choked up during the final scenes. Understandable.

What other book might you compare The Light Between Oceans to and why?

Ethan Frome is the first book that comes to mind for a tragic character loving under tragic circumstances. Any Ian McEwan.

Which scene was your favorite?

My favorite scene is the reveal of Isabel's true nature toward the middle-end in a flashback to her passion (stormy nature) connecting her to Janus Island's weather and showing a contrast to Tom's steady, eternal sense of duty, connecting him to the island and the lighthouse's reliability. The perfect placement for that scene.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

If I could have, I would have listened to this in one sitting. I did listen to six hours at a stretch, does that count?

Any additional comments?

Between the elemental imagery and the superbly crisp, sparse prose, there is nothing I can find at fault with this book. It should become a classic. The themes of 'following the rules' and weather are beautifully woven into the characters and all the supporting characters. A perfectly crafted novel.

Great ethical dilemmas

The Light Between Oceans presents heart wrenching ethical dilemmas between parent and child versus mother to father love, and how far any of us would go to do the right thing. My only disappointment was the ending that felt more like a sizzle than a strong moment of clarity.

Mumble soft MUMBLE LOUD

What disappointed you about The Light Between Oceans?

Angst ridden and sad, the voice of the narrator was too muffled and soft to hear him over traffic noise at times.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

This book felt like I was watching a train wreck about to happen - you could see the problem from a long way off, but there was nothing you could do to prevent calamity.

Any additional comments?

Depressing book, and I'm tired of depressing books at our book club. If there are recommendations for books with at least one likable character that has an actual plot and doesn't involve: drug use, cheating spouses, constant angst - please by all means, let me know.

Wonderful Tale

A must read for any parent Loved their setting of Western Australia. I was fortunate enough to visit the two oceans, including Fremantle prison, making

the story come alive.

makes you question what you might have done.

it was easy to get drawn into the story. a little hard to follow in the beginning, but once the baby arrives. it's clear and embracing.

first audio book

I loved the story. It kept our interest for a long road trip! However, we found the narrator hard to understand and often hard to hear. We got used to the accent after a few hours but sorry, not my favorite narrator.

Hard to listen to sometimes.

Great story...the narrator was hard to follow and understand sometimes. It was definitely a good book though.