Another great book chosen by Indigo's Chief Booklover and CEO Heather Reisman.

"This is a story of right and wrong, and how sometimes they look the same."  

This exquisitely written debut novel sweeps you into the lives of Tom and Isabel Sherbourne. After WW I, Tom returns to Australia very much alone and deeply marked by what he has seen and done. It comes as a shock when the beautiful Isabel finds him attractive. A proper courtship ensues and before long it is Isabel herself who boldly declares her love for Tom. She willingly leaves her comfortable life to join him on the remote island of Janus Rock in Western Australia where he takes up the post of lighthouse keeper. Her only wish — and his too — is to have lots of children with whom to share their love. 

But life does not unfold as it should. Isabel experiences a series of miscarriages and, most cruelly, a full-term stillborn. She is devastated and inconsolable. And then, a small miracle: a half-destroyed boat is washed ashore carrying a dead man and a softly crying infant. Tom, ever the serious and honorable professional, wants to immediately report the shipwreck but Isabel convinces him that this was meant to be — that likely the baby's mother has drowned and with the father dead, the baby is truly an orphan. Reluctantly Tom acquiesces and they declare to their friends and family back home that finally they have borne a child.

Baby Lucy lights up their world and they shower her with the love they so longed to give. And then… the lie of Lucy's birth begins to unravel and Isabel and Tom are forced to deal with moral choices that no parent should ever have to make. This beautiful debut novel by M.L. Stedman will touch your heart deeply. It will move you to tears and it will keep you riveted from first page to the last.

-Heather Reisman, Chief Booklover