The Book Mistresses
Chosen by Jan
Excerpt from cover:
"After four harrowing years on the Western Front, Tom Sherbourne returns to Austrailia and takes a job as the lighthouse keeper on Janus Rock, nearly half a days journey from the coast. To this isolated island, where the supply boat comes once a season, Tom brings a young, bold, and loving wife, Isabel. Years later after two miscarriages and one still birth, the grieving Isabel hears a baby's cries on the wind. A boat has washed up on shore carrying a dead man and a living baby.
Tom, who keeps meticulous records and whose moral principals have withstood a horrific war, wants to report the man and infant immediately. But Isabel insists the baby is a "gift from God," and against Tom's judgement, they claim her as their own and name her Lucy. When she is two, Tom and Isabel return to the mainland and are reminded that there are other people in the world. Their choice has devasted one of them."
The Book Mistresses' Review:
This is one of those books that give great value to book club discussions. The book was interesting but it was through further examination by means of conversation that unlocked the complexity of this novel, revealing gems along the way. Tom and Isabel, two fundamentally very different people marry and navigate their way through disappointment along with tragedy brought on by the choices they make when an infant in a boat with a dead man, washes up the shore by their home. Their home Janus, an isolated island, off the Australian coast of the small town, Partageuse, is where the the ideal stage is set for this novel. A small town where everyone knows everyone else's business and a lone island where only a light keeper and his family are the sole inhabitants. Tom a survivor of WWI longs to get away -" from people, from memory", finds solace in the isolation of the light house and "takes comfort from the orderliness of it." Isabel, young, naive, and outgoing has one wish, "to have a good husband and houseful of kids." Obligation, love, deception and justification are deeply rooted in this work of fiction. The question is proposed, is love enough to justify the means of deception? And, can love salvage all? How does one's principles define their strength in life and in relationships? They are motivated by love and desire yet must face humiliation through the catastrophe of events that await them because of their deceit. What is the final cost to them and others, even a community? In M.L. Steadman's own words ''Is there error in an action motivated by best intention?'' the author asks. ''Can a right make good a wrong? Is there wrong in a greater good?'' I believe she words it best, "''The story throws up the role of isolation on morality - when you don't see the impact of your actions. Perhaps it's easier to fool yourself when you cannot see the face of those who are affected by what you do.'' Steadman's writing style is descriptive but not flowery. The scenery, the mood, even the weather can be experienced on the island of Janus. The reader shares the burden of a lie, the burden of truth and internalizes how the consequences will lead to heartache. Furthermore, the author is able to transfer this from her characters to the minds of her readers by posing empathy with the agony in making a decision where one knows that by keeping a lie or telling the truth, people will suffer. The use of character development, symbolism, and Stedman's ability to enlist the reader to think through the consequences of such a decision, even if it were not her intention gives this book a high recomendation.