It has been a long time since I read something so captivating. There are a lot of themes in this book written by M L Stedman, that can take you through an amalgam of emotions. I felt like in a roller coaster from start to finish. Happiness and sadness, love and contempt, light and darkness, were like wicked dualities meant to make you sick to your stomach.
Stedman showed her creative self impeccably throughout this book. I loved the way she painted each character, especially Isabel. Something is her desire to keep her family together, like a true lioness, made me wonder whether the author herself had experienced those feelings before writing the book; way too genuine and amazingly painted.
Tom had taken me on an intricate path of love woven with commitment and faithfulness, from the beginning to the end. His sense of responsibility and pledge to his country, wife and family, was so inspiring. His readiness to self-sacrifice almost caught a glimpse of my deepest beliefs.
The end was bittersweet which I will not disclose, however. I will only leave you with a quote from the last page of this amazing book and I hope I can convince you to read it.
There are still more days to travel in this life. And he knows that the man who makes the journey has been shaped by every day and every person along the way. Scars are just another kind of memory. Isabel is a part of him, wherever she is, just like the war and the light and the ocean. Soon enough the days will close over their lives, the grass will grow over their graves, until their story is just an unvisited headstone. He watches the ocean surrender to night, knowing that the light will reappear.
Dissected Life 