Hand-Picked Peach: The Light Between Oceans

Last month my book club read The Light Between Oceans by M. L. Stedman.  This book may be one of the most conflicting books I've read and let me tell you why.

First, let me give you a short synopsis.  Tom and Isabel live on a small island off the coast of Australia where Tom is the lighthouse keeper.  It's just the two of them...until one day, a boat washes up on shore.  Inside are a dead man and an infant that is alive.  Isabel convinces Tom to not report the boat to the mainland and to keep the baby as their own.  Isabel's reasoning is that the mother must have fallen overboard and that, if reported, the baby would be sent to an orphanage.  A few years after the baby arrives Tom, Isabel and Lucy (the baby) go back to the mainland for their leave.  This is when Tom and Isabel find out that Lucy's mother did not drown and has been searching for her baby all this time.  What follows is complicated and emotionally conflicting.

I think this book is quite the conversation piece, especially for mothers.  Because on one hand, you have the birth mother who you feel for.  I can't imagine losing one of my children.  And in real life, if this were a story on the six o'clock news, I would root for her.  But in the book, with an omniscient narrator, you find yourself caring for and rooting for Tom and Isabel as well.  I don't know how you resolve the story without heartbreak, but that didn't stop our group from trying to come up with ways!

Also, the movie for the book released today.  I can't wait to go see it with my book club girls.  So if you are looking for a thought-provoking book or movie, make sure to check out The Light Between Oceans.