This past month we read “The Light between Oceans”, by M.L. Stedman. All in attendance seemed to have enjoyed reading the book. The story is a heart wrenching one, whereby the suffering of each and every one of the main characters is very strongly felt. Tom, the husband, was torn with feelings of guilt about keeping Lucy and knowing that as much as he loved the child and his wife, Isabel, he had to do the right thing and give Lucy up. Hannah, the mother, so distraught at having lost her child, yet wanting to give her back after Lucy came to live with her, because she could not stand to see her child’s misery. Isabel, as much as she was the least likable character in the book, suffered as well, due to several miscarriages. The main theme in the discussion was trying to understand Isabel’s state of mind as it related to keeping Lucy. The consensus was that it was probably a combination of living an isolated life on an island and having had miscarriages and a stillbirth which all led to her unbalanced state of mind. People felt that it was harder to get a clear picture of who Isabel really was and what she felt as compared to Tom and Hannah, whom the author described very clearly. The question came up as to what a painful dilemma an adoptive mother in our lifetime would be in, if she was in a similar situation whereby she had to give up her child to the biological mother if the situation arose. The upshot is that a mother’s love never falters for her child and it is very hard to imagine what it would feel like to have to give up your child, adopted or not, unless you were in that situation.
---- Sarah Aviv
