A Light Between Oceans

Marmar Moshfeghi

Tom Sherbourne is a former engineer and soldier who, after World War I and his return to Australia, seeks work in a quiet place far from people so he can heal the wounds and unpleasant feelings he carries from the war. The feeling of why he has the chance to live while his comrades were killed. He becomes the temporary keeper of a lighthouse on a remote island called Janus Rock, where the Indian Ocean and the Southern Sea meet. After the temporary period, he goes to the port of Partageuse to sign his permanent employment contract and rest for a few days, since after being hired, his leaves will be once every two years. There he meets Isabel, a young, lively, and energetic woman. They fall in love and marry a few months later. Isabel accompanies Tom to the island to begin their romantic life with the man of her dreams. Life on an island with no means of communication except a boat that arrives every three months with supplies and perhaps a letter or news is not easy. But with love and Isabel's vivacity, the couple built a dream life for themselves and were very happy and blissful, but one thing was missing from their lives: a child! Isabel became pregnant three times and miscarried all three times. The last miscarriage was very painful, occurring at seven months, and caused Isabel to become frustrated and despondent. A few days after this event, the sea brought a lifeboat to shore containing a dead man and a screaming baby. According to regulations, Tom felt obliged to record and report this incident, but Isabel, whose maternal feelings and longing for a child had been stirred upon seeing the baby, persuaded him that this was a gift from God and an answer to her prayers, and that the baby's mother must be dead, and asked Tom not to report it. Ultimately, Tom, torn between duty and love for his wife and her happiness, decided not to report the event. The couple pretended the child was their own and named her Lucy. Two years later, when Tom's leave came due, they eagerly went to the port to hold a christening celebration for their daughter. But on this trip, they realized that the event that brought joy, vitality, and happiness to their lives had destroyed another person's life, and there was a woman in that town desperately searching for her missing husband and daughter.

From this point on, the book deals with the consequences of the decision Tom and Isabel made, and the characters' struggles with the issues of truth, love for a child, losing a child, love for a spouse, guilt, hatred, and regret are beautifully narrated.

This book is very gripping, painful, and at the same time full of human and romantic feelings. The love of husband and wife, the love of parents and child. The most important theme of the book is this moral dilemma of what is right and wrong. The language of the book is very captivating, and the characterizations are excellent, so that the reader can see themselves in that character and look at matters from their perspective. Throughout the book, the reader is constantly engaged with the question: which action is right? Who is in the right?

The final chapters of the book, after a gripping and unpredictable period, became a bit clichéd and predictable. Likewise, the narrative was full of religious symbols, such as the belief that it was God's will, or attributing every event to a person's good or bad deed in the past. However, these weaknesses were so minor that they can be overlooked. I personally loved the book very much, especially its narrative style and beautiful language, and I recommend reading this book to those who enjoy romantic yet thought-provoking novels. Last year, a film adaptation of the same name was made from the book. This book is available in a translation by Najmeh Asgari, published by Owhadi.

Of course, I should note that I read the book in Swedish and am not aware of the quality of its Persian translation.

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A Light Between Oceans

From the blog Self-Imposed Exile

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Book Information:

Title: A Light Between Oceans Publisher: Owhadi Author: M.L. Stedman Translator: Najmeh Askari Book Size: Octavo Binding: Paperback Edition: First Number of Pages: 478

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