Throwback Thursday is a weekly meme created by Renee @ It’s Book Talk. This meme is an awesome way to share old favorites that were published over a year ago or even books that you’re finally reading after much time has passed. I have plenty of those to share! If you have your own Throwback Thursday recommendation feel free to jump on board. Please link back to her by using the link above.

Today’s Throwback:

The Light Between Oceans

I read The Light Between Oceans in 2016 right around the time the movie was about to be released in theaters. The blurb pulled me in and after I picked it up the story quickly felt real to me. I’m really happy to have discovered this author and I’m looking forward to reading more by her. 

From Goodreads…

A captivating, beautiful, and stunningly accomplished debut novel that opens in 1918 Australia – the story of a lighthouse keeper and his wife who make one devastating choice that forever changes two worlds.

Australia, 1926. After four harrowing years fighting on the Western Front, Tom Sherbourne returns home to take a job as the lighthouse keeper on Janus Rock, nearly half a day’s journey from the coast. To this isolated island, where the supply boat comes once a season and shore leaves are granted every other year at best, Tom brings a young, bold, and loving wife, Isabel. Years later, after two miscarriages and one stillbirth, the grieving Isabel hears a baby’s cries on the wind. A boat has washed up onshore 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 man and infant immediately. But Isabel has taken the tiny baby to her breast. Against Tom’s judgment, they claim her as their own and name her Lucy. When she is two, Tom and Isabel return to the mainland and are reminded that there are other people in the world. Their choice has devastated one of them.

My thoughts on this book…

The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman is a heart-wrenching story about a relationship between two people and the risks they’re willing to take for each other.

I’m going to say that for me, the story was heart-wrenching. You can feel the love that Tom and Isabel have for each other. Tom, who would do anything for Isabel, is a special character I fell in love with from the start. Is what they do right or wrong? The story is sure to test your moral judgement.

“I promised to spend my life with you. I still want to spend my life with you. Izz, I’ve learned the hard way that to have any kind of a future you’ve got to give up hope of ever changing your past.” 

I did find certain parts a little boring, but the last half of the book – I couldn’t stop until the end. However, I do wish it would’ve ended differently. The conclusion I was looking for wasn’t the one I received, but that’s the way the author wrote it, and it’s still good.

It’s worth reading and I’d recommend it to anyone. I’m really looking forward to reading more by this author and hope she writes more in the future. 4 stars

Find the book on Goodreads and Amazon:

• Hardcover: 345 pages
• Publisher: Scribner; 1st edition (July 31, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1451681739
• ISBN-13: 978-1451681734

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I did enjoy the movie, but I found the book to be MUCH better, so I would recommend reading it first before seeing the movie. You can see the movie trailer below.

Movie Trailer:

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About the Author:

 

M.L. Stedman was born and raised in Western Australia and now lives in London. The Light Between Oceans is her first novel.

Website:

http://authors.simonandschuster.com/M-L-Stedman/402860890

 

 

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Check out these blogs for other Throwback Thursdays!

Jill at Jill’s Book Cafe

Deanna at DeesRadReads and Reviews

Amanda at Literary Weaponry

Susan at Susan Loves Books

Cathy at What Cathy Read Next

Lynne at Fictionophile

Annie at The Misstery

Cathy at Between the Lines

Amy at Novel Gossip

Diana at A Haven for Booklovers

Laurie at Cozy Nook Books

Ann Marie at LItWitWineDine

Laura at Snazzy Books

Nina at The Cozy Pages

Virginia at Rose Point Publishing

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