The Light Between Oceans by M L Stedman

“This is a story about right and wrong and how sometimes they look the same”.

This carefully constructed tag line neatly encapsulates the moral dilemma that lies at the heart of this powerful novel. Having survived the horrors of the First World War Tom Sherbourne is now the lighthouse keeper on remote Janus Rock in South Western Australia perched between the Indian Ocean and the Great Southern Ocean. He and his young wife Izzy long for a child, after a succession of miscarriages. Then a boat washes up on the island containing a dead man and a crying baby.

This incident is the heart of the story, as a decision made with the best of intentions causes Tom and Izzy’s life to unravel as the consequences of their actions spiral inexorably towards a tragic conclusion.

This debut novel features some beautifully evocative descriptive prose. One of my favourite passages reads: -

“The line between the ocean and the sky became harder to judge as the light faltered second by second”.

This inability to judge between ocean and sky stands as a symbol in judging right from wrong which echoes throughout the novel, underpinning the moral ambiguity of the narrative.

It seems no coincidence that Stedman has set the lighthouse on Janus Rock, its beam illuminating the two oceans of the title. Janus was the God of beginnings and transitions. His two heads looked both to the past and the future, which is an apt metaphor for Stedman’s meticulously crafted plot.

I was really impressed by the quality of writing in Margot Stedman’s first novel and her writing is by turns evocative, lyrical and compassionate. Her deft use of the rising and falling cadences of the Australian language is both charming and completely realistic.

The novel’s title is also an inspired choice. Apparently Stedman’s working title for the piece during its early drafts was “Lighthouse Story” before the title came to her, and to my mind it works beautifully on a number of different levels.

This novel grips the reader from the outset as it proceeds to its intensely sad conclusion. I shall certainly be looking out for the next novel by Margot Steadman.