‘The Light Between Oceans’ - review by Maggie Rainey-Smith

‘The Light Between Oceans’

By M.L. Stedman

Vintage, Random House, Australia, 2012

This novel comes with a heartbreak warning.   It is a debut novel with a terrific but terribly sad plot.   It’s 1926 and Tom Sherbourne has returned from the First World War, carrying the darkness of death within, unable to speak of the atrocities he has witnessed.  He returns to small-town Colonial Western Australia and takes up the position of lighthouse keeper on a remote island.    The lighthouse becomes a character in the novel, as Tom finds solace in the routine of his work and the comforting isolation.   But then he meets the young and strong-willed Isabel on one of his return visits from Janus Rock to Port Partaguese.   Theirs is a beautiful and believable love story.   She’s much younger but willing to forgo all to be the wife of the lighthouse keeper.

               So far, so good.   And the details of the lighthouse and the remoteness and the landscape are almost enough for the novel to just be this.    I was reminded at times of Mary McCallum’s ‘The Blue’ – with a similar remote setting of Arapawa Island and men back from Gallipoli, along with the quiet domesticity and tragedy just beneath the surface.

               But then, idyll turns to tragedy and Isabel and Tom face heartbreak. The story becomes an absolute page-turner when they make a life-changing decision (I don’t think this is a plot spoiler, as it is hinted at on the back cover) when a boat washes ashore carrying a dead man and a crying infant.

               It has been a while since I’ve been so hooked on a plot and so driven to return to a novel.  Nowadays I often have more than one book on the go, and so I’m happy to put one down and return to the other, but reading ‘The Light Between The Oceans’ I was completely absorbed and even read it on the bus (considering I suffer from motion sickness, this is saying something).    Although it is really very plot driven, the writing is lovely and the descriptions of the lighthouse are intricate, technical and well researched.   Not only that, I found the evocation of post-First World War Colonial Australia, quite compelling – small details that really worked for me.   I grew up in post Second World War small town New Zealand, and there were things that rang so true about the returned soldiers, and the attitudes of small towns.

               What really makes this novel hum for me is the insight into the characters.   Tom Sherbourne is a really well drawn character and his actions and motives throughout the novel are portrayed in such a sympathetic light that you almost never doubt him, and if you do doubt Isobel’s actions, you will do so with great compassion and heartache.     I was reminded a little of Alex Miller’s ‘Lovesong’ a very different novel but yet a similar theme – the lengths people will go to for a child.

               Stedman has written a page-turner that also happens to be supported by well observed and unobtrusive history – e.g. Tom and Isobel are back at Point Partageuse on Boxing Day and attending the Church Fete.  “As well as the sale of cakes and toffees, and jars of jam that occasionally exploded in the fierce sun, the event was famous for its sports and novelty events:  the egg and spoon race, three-legged race, sack race – all were staples of the day.  The coconut shy still ran, though they’d given up on the shooting gallery after the war, because the newly honed skills of the local men meant it started to lose money.” 

               The lovely detail of the newly honed skills of the local men, really hits home.  

               The novel moves back and forth from Janus Rock where the lighthouse is, to Point Partaguese and as the tempo lifts and the drama increases, Tom and Isobel find refuge in their isolation, in the world they have created that is also tearing them apart, as they struggle to hold on to their idea of family.

               I did find nearer the end that the plot tempo was raised a little too much for my liking.   But perhaps I am a bit of a coward.  I don’t want to have my emotions dragged too far into the unknown or with sudden unexpected twists.    The story was so profound in the major moral theme, that I wasn’t sure the author needed to unravel it quite as she did.   But these twists are handled well, and indeed you could well ask, how else was she to resolve this complex and heart-wrenching story?

               Once again, I think this is a definite book club sort of book, and could generate quite a lot of discussion around the moral themes raised.   The promotional flyer that came with this book says ‘this is a story of right and wrong and how sometimes they look the same’.  Indeed, and the author has been skilful enough to engage you in all sides of the issue and you would be a hard hearted person not to feel your empathy shifting back and forth and remain forever torn.    Yes, if you do plan to read it, perhaps keep a box of tissues handy.  But it’s not maudlin, and it is a rather beautiful love story on many levels.
Footnote:

Maggie Rainey-Smith (right) is a Wellington writer and regular guest reviewer on Beattie's Book Blog. She is also Chair of the Wellington branch of the NZ Society of Authors.    

www.maggieraineysmith.com

http://acurioushalfhour.wordpress.com/author/maggieraineysmith/