by M.L. Stedman
Rated PG-13
Living on a remote island with only her quiet, steady husband Tom and a lighthouse for company, young Isabel Sherbourne suffers through two miscarriages and a stillbirth on her own. When, two weeks after she's buried her stillborn baby, a boat floats up on shore carrying a dead man, a woman's sweater, and a tiny baby, Isabel believes she has received a gift from God. Against Tom's ardent pleas to report the incident and turn the baby over to the authorities, Isabel names the baby and keeps her for her own, certain the child is better off with them than in an orphanage.
Two years later, Tom and Isabel, with little toddler Lucy, have been granted shore leave, and arrive on the mainland to discover that they are not as isolated as they thought, that their choice has had consequences they were unwilling to imagine.
Steadman draws you so steadily into the emotions of each character than you are stunned to realize you don't know who to feel sorrier for. This novel can only end in tragedy, no matter the outcome. I couldn't put it down.
The book has one brief husband/wife sexual comment, and some scattered incidents of taking the Lord's name in vain, earning it a PG-13 rating.
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