Difficult to remain indifferent to this Australian novel of a structured and reassuring classicism. Everything is there to move you but in a good way: the characters mistreated by life, a microcosm of the end of the world (Australia early twentieth sièble, a desert island and its lighthouse) and a dramatic situation, Corneille ( found a baby, the strength of parental love ...). The context is incredibly well told: the tribute to Australia who gave his men, almost children, a distant war (WW1) and lost them, or because they have died or because " they returned "other" and the hard life of a lighthouse keeper, told with details of force, exciting and never banal. The complexity of the situation keeps suspense until the end, as there are so many possibilities. I enjoyed the accuracy of the description of feelings, extreme but still moving and nuanced, and suddenly, very realistic. So, can we at different times, have empathy for them and for each other, each with its reasons for acting; the strength of the narrator is not to judge his characters. The set is very well paced to the final that are seemingly poignant, whatever it is, and that can take a few tears to sensitive souls (including myself, I admit). One can easily imagine that this story will delight a filmmaker by the force of history and uniqueness of the places mentioned. A popular novel (millions of sales worldwide) in which I allowed myself to wear with great pleasure.
