TO READ: The Light Between Oceans

Sorry this is a couple of days late, but there we go.

I hadn't heard of this book by M. L. Stedman before I picked it up despite the cover claiming it to be an international bestseller (apparently it's also destined for the big screens). Either way, once I started reading it, I couldn't stop. It tells the story of ex-soldier Tom Sherbourne in Australia in the 1920s after the First World War as he becomes a lighthouse keeper on a small remote island called Janus Rock. The main action begins in 1926, when a boat containing a dead man and a baby wash up on the island and Tom and his wife are forced to make a decision that will change their lives.

This is an enticing debut novel which I would recommend firstly to fans of Kate Morton and secondly to anyone who will listen. I found myself getting rather fond of the characters, most of whom just want to do the right thing in a difficult situation, although I did start getting confused between the minor characters towards the end. It isn't often that a book makes me particularly emotional, but this book did almost make me cry, which I consider an achievement on M. L. Stedman's part.

One thing I particularly liked was the detail. I'm not talking about minute detail in lengthy and boring descriptions here, there's none of that (which I recall) but rather all important events are given a mention. You might think this is obvious, but I think something that has annoyed me about books in the past is that they mention something important from the past only later, and that annoys the reader as there is no possible way that they can attempt to predict what's going to happen since they didn't previously know about this event. This is not the case in this book; the past event in question is given in its place in the chronological order of things, leaving the reader wondering its relevance, and we are only enlightened on this point later in the book, something which, for some reason, I did like (this is quite possibly only the writer in me picking up on this). It's only a small point, and something I imagine most people wouldn't notice, but I apparently thought it important, so there we go.

In conclusion, I very much enjoyed this book from the first to the last word, and found it, overall, gripping, intriguing and fascinating with a hint of something enchanting. And no, I can't lend you my copy, because I'll be lending it to all my friends first. :)