The Light Between Oceans: The heartrending Sunday Times bestseller and Richard and Judy pick

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Tom should report the baby and the death but Isabel insists to keep her and to hide the dead man and the boat.

The continuing heartbreaking story will tear you apart, as you grapple with the right and wrong of love and loyalty.Several reviewers have talked about the moral issues of the book but, in the final part of the book when the truth comes out, I found my sympathy jumping from one character to another in quick succession and really couldn't condemn Tom and Isabel for their actions. Play some of the pieces mentioned in the novel, such as George Frideric Handel’s Messiah or Johann Sebastian Bach’s Goldberg Variations at your book club discussion. Yes, a very emotional book and at the same time, you often experience a feeling of calm and peace when the life on Janus is described.

We wouldn’t normally send a single man to Janus—it’s pretty remote and a wife and family can be a great practical help, not just a comfort,” the District Officer had said to Tom. I gifted a copy of The Light Between Oceans to my sister for Christmas and she read it on an international flight. And the stars: the sky gets crowded at night, and it is a bit like watching a clock, seeing the constellations slide across the sky. Against Tom’s judgment, they claim the girl as their own and name her Lucy—a devastating, resounding choice that forever changes two worlds.Also, if that has happened today, Tom, Isabelle and Hannah would have been offered counselling to help them face this situation.

And we are swept into a story about extraordinarily compelling characters seeking to find their North Star in a world where there is no right answer, where justice for one person is another's tragic loss. He climbed to the upper deck, gripping the stair rail to counter the gentle rolling, and stood a moment at the top, taking in the freshness of the breeze and the steadiness of the stars that showered the night.Having grown up on the East Coast, I don’t know all that much about the history of Western Australia. To this isolated island, where the supply boat comes once a season, Tom brings a young, bold, and loving wife, Isabel. The lighthouse is itself a character in the novel, and Tom is a meticulous, attentive, even loving keeper. It is also a story of how decisions we make today can shatter someone else’s life and eventually put us at a crossroads in the future. The story begins when a light house keeper and his wife find a life boat containing a live baby (and dead man) on the shore of their isolated island.

Combined with being on the New York Times Best Seller list, and having an first rate premise, I thought this one was a winner. That’s a special kind of talent as an author, to convey so much through words, to invoke so much emotion in your readers. A lawyer and his wife—best give them a wide berth; some elderly couples, a pair of old spinsters (promising), but best of all, some toff’s daughter traveling on her own.As Tom begins his shift on Janus Rock, he finds comfort in the regulated structure and simple life of a keeper.