Author - M. L. STEDMAN

The story begins in 1927 with a deceptively simple love story between a young lighthouse keeper Tom Sherbourne and his wife, a local girl Isabel, on Janus Rock, a fictional Isle off the South Coast of western Australia.

Living a quiet life, cocooned from the rest of the world, their life is irreparably changed when one April morning a boat washes ashore carrying a dead man and a crying infant - and the path of the couple's lives hits an unthinkable crossroads. What follows is a fascinating exploration into grief, loss and redemption.

This is not to say the novel focuses on Tom and Isabel exclusively, as it is as much about community as it is about romantic love.

Stedman also works with weightier themes such as fate and moral responsibility, which are all explored through the various town folk and their notions of right or wrong when only years later do Tom and Isabel discover the devastating consequences of the decision they made that day - as the baby's real story unfolds.

The writing is exquisite, the imagery vivid, and the plot moves along at a fairly impressive clip. More surprising is the emotional pull of the narrative as the author has created such believable characters that, as a reader, you feel every moment from first love through to denouement.

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