The Light Between Oceans by MLStedman

After four harrowing years on the Western Front, Tom Sherbourne returns to Australia and takes a job as the lighthouse keeper on Janus Rock, nearly half a day’s journey from the coast. To this isolated island, where the supply boat comes once a season and shore leaves are granted every other year at best, Tom brings a young, bold, and loving wife, Isabel. Years later, after two miscarriages and one stillbirth, the grieving Isabel hears a baby’s cries on the wind. A boat has washed up onshore carrying a dead man and a living baby.

Tom, whose records as a lighthouse keeper are meticulous and whose moral principles have withstood a horrific war, wants to report the man and infant immediately. But Isabel has taken the tiny baby to her breast. Against Tom’s judgment, they claim her as their own and name her Lucy. When she is two, Tom and Isabel return to the mainland and are reminded that there are other people in the world. Their choice has devastated one of them.

I really enjoyed this book, I found it easy to get to know the characters and I learnt a bit about the struggles of being a lighthouse keeper in the early days. I like a story that doesn't leave any loose endings and while I would have hoped for a different outcome for Tom and Isabel, true to life what we want doesn't always come true. I would have liked to see them adopt a child when things didn't work out-I was frustrated at the beginning of the story when they didn't report the baby being found-you knew it was going to be trouble from the start but kept hoping that things would work out despite the deceit.
I give this book 4.5 kiwis out of 5.