A powerful debut novel about a couple who find themselves trapped in the ultimate moral dilemma is this week’s staff pick. The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman is the story of Tom and Isabel Sherbourne and their life on a remote island where Tom serves as the lighthouse keeper. After enduring several miscarriages, a boat washes ashore carrying a body and a baby. Deciding to keep the baby as their own, Tom and Isabel’s decision has far-reaching consequences. This emotionally driven novel is a great choice for fans of historical or literary fiction. Read this one before the movie starring Michael Fassbender, Alicia Vikander and Rachel Weisz is released in 2016.
“After four harrowing years on the Western Front, Tom Sherbourne returns to Australia and takes 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, 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, who keeps meticulous records and whose moral principles have withstood a horrific war, wants to report the man and infant immediately. But Isabel insists the baby is a “gift from God,” and 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.” —Amazon
