The Light Between Oceans, by M. L. Stedman

Characters
Janus Rock and related people	Port Partaguese
Tom Sherbourne Isabel “Izzy” Graysmark Lucy Violet   Ed Sherbourne – Tom’s father Cecil - brother   Franz Johannes Roennfeldt   Windward Spirit – supply boat Ralph Addicott Bluey Smart	Graysmark family Bill and Violet Hugh and Alfie – sons killed in war   Hannah Roennfeldt – Lucy-Grace’s mother Septimus Potts – Hannah’s father Gwen - sister   Sergeant Knuckey

For discussion:

1. Would you like to live isolated in a light house?  What about isolated but somewhere more luxurious and with less work?

2. Could you be like Izzy – not see her fiancé for six months and then, after a brief honeymoon, move far away from her family and friends? 

3. Discuss the characters’ different childhood experiences and how it influences their decisions:

• Tom – father banished his mother, experiences with death in the war
• Septimus – sent as a young child to Western Australia alone for adoption
• Hannah and Gwen – losing mother at young age

4. Discuss the main characters.  Can you imagine or understand their feelings and emotions?

5. Why did Bluey turn in Tom and Izzy?  

6. Why did Tom write Hannah the first letter and then send the rattle?  Do you think he knew they would eventually be discovered through the rattle?

7. Discuss Hannah’s decision to let Isabel have Lucy-Grace.  Also, discuss her decision at the end to testify in support of Tom and Isabel.  Could you do either one of these things?

8. Consider Frank’s statement to Hannah about being happy. “I choose to, I can leave myself to rot in the past, spend my time hating people for what happened, like my father did, or I can forgive and forget.”   How did that influence decisions and events in the novel?

9. Why did Isabel suddenly change her mind and tell the truth when she was so close to getting Lucy back?

10. How do you think Lucy-Grace was eventually able to lead a normal childhood?  What part did Septimus play in her adjustment?

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