Parts of a Whole

First, some plot clarification on my novel, The Light Between Oceans, by M. L. Stedman. It was Isabel's idea to keep the baby, Lucy, as her own. Tom was a very meticulous, hardworking man and hated having to lie in his lighthouse keeper's books about finding the baby and the baby's father's body, but he did so out of love for Isabel. When people find out that Lucy actually belongs to a woman named Hannah, Tom pretends that he forced Isabel to keep Lucy, effectively protecting Isabel. Tom ends up in jail, and Isabel returns to live with her parents, and refuses to forgive Tom for quite a long time. Lucy is also horrified at the prospect of living with her biological mother, who she treats like a stranger. Eventually, Tom and Isabel reconnect, and Lucy grows up with Hannah, and still maintains a passion for the ocean that she discovered while with Tom and Isabel.

The setting of the island, Janus, is crucial to the story. Tom and Isabel are isolated from the rest of the world, and rules seem insignificant with no one to enforce them. The island is entirely different fro the mainland, and when the two first marry, Tom frets: "would Isabel love Janus as much as he did? Would she understand his world?" (55). This isolated, natural setting allows Stedman to incorporate beautiful, poetic descriptions of the island, the ocean, and the lighthouse which parallel some of the character struggles. Stedman illustrates how "the light reaches over the curve of the earth-beyond the horizon," and Isabel notes that "it's like seeing into the future...you can reach ahead in time to save a ship before it knows it needs help" (56). This light is something Tom needed: while he thought they should return Lucy immediately, he eventually grew comfortable with the idea, and was unaware that they would ever be caught. His love for Isabel and his Lucy is the light that saves him: he cares enough for the two of them to spend time in jail and attempt to protect his family by lying.

Janus also has a significant name: the island bears the name of the god of doorways, who has "two faces, bac to back" and is "always looking both ways, torn between two ways of seeing things." This is similar to the separation between Tom and Isabel discussed in the previous blog post. Additionally, this mirrors Tom's hesitation about Lucy. Just as "the island looks in the direction of two different oceans," Tom both wants to keep and care for Lucy, and return her to her real family (65). He is torn between love and justice, his family and another's, loyalty and honesty.

Another description that stood out to me follows Isabel's mapping out the island. Tom feels saddened at how she dissects the island, the splitting off into the good and the bad, the safe and the dangerous. He preferred to think of it whole" (62). This parallels some of the interactions between Tom and Isabel following her miscarriages and the loss of Lucy. When Tom does something wrong, such as hinting to Hannah at the safety of her daughter, Isabel immediately labels him as disloyal and evil. Others encourage her, suggesting that Tom murdered Lucy's father instead of finding him washed up dead on the island. However, Tom always stays loyal and in love with Isabel. Even when she blames him for everything, he sends her a message from jail, telling her "I understand" (253). He considers Isabel's whole person, forgiving her for her mistakes and loving her nonetheless.