Light Between Oceans

Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman was an emotional read on multiple levels.  The story takes place in Australia after WWII.  It is about a former soldier who takes a job as a light house keeper.  He marries and takes his wife with him.  The story evolves around a tragic night where decisions are made and the bad choices are layered on top of other bad choices.  Where the choices are right or wrong is what kept us in heavy conversation.  We met at Mediterranean Kitchen in Bellevue.  IT is a tiny whole in the wall place off Bellevue Way and specializes in Lebanese cuisine.  Everything is extremely flavorful and we have gotten in the habit of ordering family style so we can all share in trying several dishes.  The dipping sauce was divine and a starter soup is brought before ordering ever takes place! Be prepared to share a dish or take lots home since the potions are probably enough for 3 or 4.  You will not go home hungry!  Our discussion of this book centered around the decisions that were made by Isabel and put upon Tom, her husband.  We tried to understand what happens to right and wrong when isolated for months at a time on a light house island.  We wondered how that isolation changes a persons sense of reality and what it looks like , too, when they return to society.  As women trying to understand the main woman of the story, we wondered if our decisions would be similar or different to Isabel's.  It was a mixed consensus.  There were many moral questions and decisions made and even with a sense of God woven throughout, it was interesting how even that was manipulated by the isolation of the light house.  A great novel for a book group discussion.  A question to remember after reading this...can the antagonist be something other than a person?
Enjoy and grab your tissues!