Author: M.L. Stedman

Nominated By: Anne Carl

fiction

After four harrowing years on the Western Front, Tom Sherbourne returns to Australia and takes a job as the lighthouse keeper on Janus Rock, nearly half a day's journey from the coast. To this isolated island, where the supply boat comes once a season and shore leaves are granted every other year at best, Tom brings a young, bold, and loving wife, Isabel.It is mesmerizing, and beautifully written, about isolation and courage in the face of enormous loss. It gets into your heart. It is a total-immersion experience, extraordinarily moving.

More: The New York Times