Author m&l stedman biography

Stedman is a native Australian, but currently lives in London; Her first name is Margot; Stedman used to work as a lawyer; The Light Between.
M.
About The Author.

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If you haven’t read The Light Between Oceans yet, I highly recommend adding it to your Amazon cart. It came out in 2012, so I’m a bit late to this particular party. Shameful confession: I’m never that excited to read historical fiction. I tend to think the characters are going to talk in their old-timey way and I’m not going to relate. I think I’ll fall asleep, basically. I’ve been wrong on this so many times, but I still have my ridiculous bias. This book may finally convince me to stop putting historical fiction novels at the bottom of my stack.

Usually, when I do these “spotlight on” posts, I choose authors who have written many novels that I’ve read and loved. This is the only M.L. Stedman book I’ve read. This is the only one she’s published (though, you better bet I’ll be first in line for her next one). I was so moved by this novel that I had to investigate Stedman’s writing process and compile some of her wisdom here.

On not sharing details of her personal life (including her first name):

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M.L. Stedman

In the wake of World War I, on a remote island off the coast of Australia, lighthouse keeper Tom Sherbourne and his wife Isabel make a life-altering choice: to keep and raise a foundling child who is not theirs. The repercussions of this decision shape M.L. Stedman’s stunning debut novel, The Light Between Oceans.

We caught up with Stedman (herself born and raised in Western Australia) for a discussion of right and wrong, moral ambiguity and an author’s responsibility to her characters.

What a mesmerizing story. Did anything specific inspire you to write The Light Between Oceans?
I write fairly instinctively, just seeing what comes up when I sit down at the page. For this story, it was a lighthouse, then a woman and a man. Before long, a boat washed up on the beach, and in it I could see a dead man, and then a crying baby. Everything that happens in the book stems from this initiating image—a bit like the idea of ‘Big Bang’—an initial point that seems tiny turns out to be incredibly dense, and just expanded outward further

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About the Author

Originally from Western Australia, M L Stedman has lived in London for many years, where she worked as a lawyer. She first decided to try creative writing in 1997. In the years that followed she did a few writing courses, and some of her short stories were published in anthologies. The Light show more Between Oceans is M L Stedman's debut novel, draws inspiration from the landscape of her native Western Australia. (Bowker Author Biography)show less

Includes the names: M. L. Stedman, M. L. STEDMAN

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“He turned his attention to the rotation of the beam, and gave a bitter laugh at the thought that the dip of the light meant that the island itself was always left in darkness. A lighthouse is for others; powerless to illuminate the space closest to it.” (Ch 20)

In 1918, having spent four excruciating years on the Western Front, Tom Sherbourne returns to Australia and takes a job as lighthouse keeper on remote Janus Rock. The isolated island, a full half day’s jo