This is a novel that is quite different from my usual choice. I heard that it was going to be made into a movie and it also received a great review from Oprah so I would have to be foolish to ignore it. I’ve waited for quite a while to get my hands on a copy of this book. It started off slow at first but I was soon hooked and I finished it in one sitting. I still feel like I’m stuck in the pages of this book, it was that enthralling. But anyways, here is my review:
Tom Sherbourne is done with the War and all he wants to do now is return to Australia. So when he is offered a posting as a lighthouse keeper at Janus Rock, he jumps at the chance for peace and solitude. Not only is this lighthouse a sight to behold but it is also connected to a quaint town, where Tom meets Isabel and falls deeply in love with her. They return to the lighthouse to begin a life of happiness. But after two miscarriages and a stillborn, Isabel is at her wits end. When she hears the wails of a baby, she dismisses it as her own delusions. But when Tom goes to investigate and finds a boat with a dead man and a living baby girl, Isabel knows that this is a “sign from God” and begs Tom to let her keep the child. Unable to deny his loving wife this request, Tom hides all evidence of the child’s discovery. What neither of them know is that this decision will change their lives forever.
This novel spent a great deal of time creating a backstory in the first few chapters. However, it was really useful in building the characters. As I kept reading, the story become more engrossing and heart-wrenching. By the end of the novel, I didn’t even know who I was crying for. Every angle was explored with so much detail and the pain of every character was so vividly described that I truly felt it in my own heart. This novel asks the million dollar question: how far would a mother go for her child? And the author does a fantastic job answering this through this story. I hated, and loved, and pitied every single mother in this book and their struggles were so realistically portrayed. This novel is definitely worth reading and I would recommend this to anyone looking for a good heart-wrenching realistic fiction.
Happy reading ~