by M.L. Stedman, 2012 (her first novel)
Page-turner, set in early 1900’s after WWI in Western Australia, on Janus Rock, an island 100 miles from the western coast of Australia. Tom Sherbourne, newly back from WWI, takes a job as the lighthouse keeper for Janus Rock. On the way there, he meets Isabel, a local girl from Point Partageuse. They fall in love and marry and move to Janus Rock – just the 2 of them on this lonely rock 100 miles out to sea. She loses 3 babies and all she wants is a baby. Two weeks after she loses the 3rd, a 7-month old boy, she hears a cry out to sea. So does Tom. It ends up being a baby girl in a dinghy with a dead man. Isabel thinks it is a miracle from God. Tom wants to report it but Isabel keeps begging him to wait a day. After 2 years, Lucy, what they name her, has totally captivated them. They get shore leave and at the church in Point Partageuse, they baptize her but learn of the tragic death of Frank and baby Grace who were trying to escape an unruly crowd bent on hurting Frank because he was German – actually Austrian though. They are overcome with guilt, especially Tom, and he writes a note to Hannah, the girl’s mother, that her baby is safe and loved and her husband Frank is at peace with God. Two years later, when Lucy is 4 years old, they have shore leave again. This time, Tom secretly delivers the silver rattle to Hannah. Because Bluey, one of the supply boat workers who make deliveries to Janus Rock every 6 months, recognizes the rattle as Lucy’s, and his Mom wants the 3000 guineas that Hannah’s Father is offering as a reward, Tom and Isabel are taken back from Janus Rock. Tom lies to save Isabel – he says it was all his idea. Isabel is so hurt and angry because Tom destroyed their life and Lucy was taken away from them. Lucy, now Grace, is so awfully miserable with her new/old mamma, Hannah, that everything seems like a terrible mistake. Tom stays true to Isabel and never tells the truth. He stays in jail in Port Partageuse. One of the police want to get him for murder, too, saying that Frank wasn’t dead when the dinghy came to shore on Janus Rock. But there are a few people, Ralph the supply boat captain, Bluey, Sergeant Knuckey, who really know Tom, and they keep things under control. Sergeant Knuckey lets Tom write a letter to Isabel, staying with her parents. She refuses to read it for the longest time. When she finally does, it’s a letter telling her how much he loves her, how sorry he is, and asking her to forgive him. She does – goes down to the police station in the pouring rain, and confesses all. Hannah agrees to reduce the charges so Tom only spends 3 months in jail. He and Isabel move 400 miles east and buy a farm on the coast. Lucy-Grace accepts her new mom, and then visits Tom after the birth of her son. Isabel had died one week earlier of cancer. Tom was with her to the end.
Beautiful, moving story. Neat setting.