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y separately published work icon The Light between Oceans single work   novel   historical fiction  
Issue Details: First known date: 2012... 2012 The Light between Oceans
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

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

'1926. Tom Sherbourne is a young lighthouse keeper on a remote island off Western Australia. The only inhabitants of Janus Rock, he and his wife Isabel live a quiet life, cocooned from the rest of the world.

'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.

'Only years later do they discover the devastating consequences of the decision they made that day - as the baby's real story unfolds...' (From the publisher's website.)

Adaptations

form y separately published work icon The Light between Oceans Derek Cianfrance , ( dir. Derek Cianfrance ) United States of America (USA) New Zealand : Heyday Films LBO Productions DreamWorks SKG , 2016 9322518 2016 single work film/TV historical fiction

A lighthouse keeper and his wife find and adopt a baby girl who is washed up on their isolated island in a lifeboat. But not all the girl's family are gone, and their decision will have ramifications.

Notes

  • Dedication: In memory of my parents

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

    • North Sydney, North Sydney - Lane Cove area, Sydney Northern Suburbs, Sydney, New South Wales,: Vintage Australia , 2012 .
      image of person or book cover 1385196466032463558.jpg
      Image courtesy of publisher's website
      Extent: 362p.
      Description: map
      ISBN: 9781742755724 (ebk.), 9781742755700 (pbk.)
    • New York (City), New York (State),
      c
      United States of America (USA),
      c
      Americas,
      :
      Scribner ,
      2012 .
      image of person or book cover 5070849955137311035.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 352p.
      ISBN: 9781451681758 (trade pbk.), 9781451681765 (ebk.), 9781451681734 (hbk.)
    • London,
      c
      England,
      c
      c
      United Kingdom (UK),
      c
      Western Europe, Europe,
      :
      Doubleday ,
      2012 .
      image of person or book cover 7633160658045428222.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 362p.
      ISBN: 9780857521002 (hbk.), map
    • North Sydney, North Sydney - Lane Cove area, Sydney Northern Suburbs, Sydney, New South Wales,: Random House , 2015 .
      image of person or book cover 79423268548832491.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 368p.
      Note/s:
      • Published 2 November 2015
      ISBN: 9780857989888
    • New York (City), New York (State),
      c
      United States of America (USA),
      c
      Americas,
      :
      Pocket Books ,
      2016 .
      image of person or book cover 6173705781696044195.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 409p.
      Edition info: Media Tie-In edition
      Note/s:
      • Published August 23, 2016
      ISBN: 9781501127977
    • Sydney, New South Wales,: Penguin , 2018 .
      image of person or book cover 4708355564685270284.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 362p.
      Note/s:
      • Published: 19th March 2018

      ISBN: 9780143790952
Alternative title: Svetlo Između Oceana
Language: Serbian
    • Belgrade, Serbia & Montenegro,
      c
      Ex Yugoslavia,
      c
      Eastern Europe, Europe,
      :
      Laguna ,
      2012 .
      image of person or book cover 7854120065332880644.jpg
      This image has been sourced from online.
      Extent: 395p.
      Note/s:
      • Published 1 January 2012
      ISBN: 9788652110148

Other Formats

  • Sound recording.
  • Sound recording. (German)
  • Braille.
  • Large print.

Works about this Work

Heading South : An Embodied Literary History of the Cape to Cape Track and the Leeuwin-Naturaliste Region of South-west Australia John Charles Ryan , 2017 single work criticism
— Appears in: Journal of the European Association for Studies on Australia , vol. 8 no. 1 2017; (p. 44-58)

'Based on the author’s end-to-end walk of the Cape to Cape Track (C2C), this article presents a literary history of the Leeuwin-Naturaliste region traversed by the trail. The C2C is a continuous, 135-kilometre coastal pedestrian path from Cape Naturaliste to Cape Leeuwin south of Perth in the south-west corner of Western Australia. A relatively short route by long-distance trekking standards, the C2C reverberates with literary narratives, incidents and encounters. In 1831, explorers John Dewar and Andrew Smith walked northbound from Augusta to the Swan River, approximately following the modern-day orientation of the track. Known for tempestuous weather, Cape Leeuwin—the southern terminus of the C2C, near Augusta, where the Indian and Southern Oceans converge—was the model for “Lewin’s Land” referenced in Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels (1726) and later alluded to in D.H. Lawrence and Mollie Skinner’s The Boy in the Bush (1924). Drawing from theories of emplacement (de Certeau; Edensor; Gros; Ingold; Ingold and Vergunst; Merleau-Ponty; Michael; Solnit), this article describes walking as a medium for understanding the imbrications between bodies, landscapes, journeys, histories and stories.' (Publication abstract)

[Review Essay] The Light Between the Oceans Brian McFarlane , 2016 single work review essay
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , December no. 387 2016; (p. 42) ABR : Arts 2016;
'If you read a novel prior to seeing the film derived from it, you know what to expect by way of major plot manoeuvers. Attention is then apt to focus on how the film maker has responded to the original, and the what can then often be seriously be challenged. As one who believes fidelity to be ideal for relationships, I favour playing around with adaptions.' (Introduction)
Indie Judges Shine Light on Year's Best Books Stephen Romei , 2013 single work column
— Appears in: The Australian , 26 March 2013; (p. 15)
Aussie Authors Vie for Something on Mantel Stephen Romei , 2013 single work column
— Appears in: The Australian , 14 March 2013; (p. 5)
Dorothy Green Memorial Lecture : Archipelagic Space and the Uncertain Future of National Literatures Elizabeth McMahon , 2013 single work criticism
— Appears in: JASAL , vol. 13 no. 2 2013;

'This essay joins in the discussion about the future of national literatures in the shifting formations of globalisation. Specifically, I want to interrogate what we mean by the future when we speak of literature and, specifically, of Australian or New Zealand literature.

The essay proposes a literary cartography that overlays the alienation of this ‘no world’ with the ‘no-place’ of island utopias as they are mobilised in archipelagic chains or threads. This alternative model of spatial relationality and dynamism differs from conventional global traffic. It is a cartography derived from islands: from their history, fictions, and their theorists. This project is at least partly utopian in a strictly generic sense; that is, in its implication in the reading practices and politics of utopian texts.' (Author's abstract)

[Review] The Light between Oceans Jessica Broadbent , 2012 single work review
— Appears in: Bookseller + Publisher Magazine , February/March vol. 91 no. 7 2012; (p. 30)

— Review of The Light between Oceans M. L. Stedman , 2012 single work novel
[Review] The Light between Oceans Jeremy Fisher , 2012 single work review
— Appears in: Australian Book Review , April no. 340 2012; (p. 67)

— Review of The Light between Oceans M. L. Stedman , 2012 single work novel
Looking for the First Light Louise Swinn , 2012 single work review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 31 March-1 April 2012; (p. 23)

— Review of The Light between Oceans M. L. Stedman , 2012 single work novel ; Floundering Romy Ash , 2012 single work novel
High Hopes on the Rocks Ian McFarlane , 2012 single work review
— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 7 April 2012; (p. 21)

— Review of The Light between Oceans M. L. Stedman , 2012 single work novel
Baby a Beacon of Distress Jennifer Moran , 2012 single work review
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 6-8 April 2012; (p. 34)

— Review of The Light between Oceans M. L. Stedman , 2012 single work novel
Beacon of Promise Linda Morris , 2012 single work biography
— Appears in: The Saturday Age , 24 March 2012; (p. 28-29) The Sydney Morning Herald , 24-25 March 2012; (p. 30-31)
Undercover Susan Wyndham , 2012 single work column
— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 5-6 May 2012; (p. 31)
A column canvassing current literary news including a report on worldwide sales of M. L. Stedman's The Light between Oceans. Susan Wyndham also notes the trend towards publishing 'shorts', highlighting new series by Allen & Unwin and Penguin.
TBR : Inside the List Gregory Cowles , 2012 single work column
— Appears in: The New York Times Book Review , 19 August 2012; (p. 22)
Aussie Authors Vie for Something on Mantel Stephen Romei , 2013 single work column
— Appears in: The Australian , 14 March 2013; (p. 5)
Indie Judges Shine Light on Year's Best Books Stephen Romei , 2013 single work column
— Appears in: The Australian , 26 March 2013; (p. 15)
Last amended 11 Aug 2021 10:09:00
Settings:
  • Southwest Western Australia, Western Australia,
  • Island,
  • 1920s
  • 1930s
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