47 pages • 1 hour read
M.L. StedmanThe Light Between Oceans
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2012A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 25-29Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 3
Chapter 25 Summary
After arriving at Partageuse, Tom is arrested. Sergeant Spragg, an aggressive and unpleasant man, wants to transport him immediately to the city of Albany for questioning and thinks they should lock Isabel up, not believing she is innocent. Sergeant Knuckey, aware of the small-town dynamics, cautions Spragg to take matters one step at a time. After wondering for years if Hannah is delusional, he now wonders the same about Isabel.
Lucy is taken from Isabel, and Bill and Violet struggle to understand the loss of their granddaughter.
As she lies in bed, Isabel imagines that Tom has been lying to her, hiding previous lives and other wives he had deserted. She decides that she will make him suffer for what he has done when the police question her tomorrow.
After his arrest, Tom confronts new feelings of sadness:
He cannot reconcile the grief he feels at what he has done and the profound relief that runs through him. Two opposing physical forces, they create an inexplicable reaction overpowered by a third, stranger force—the knowledge of having deprived his wife of a child (264-65).
Chapter 26 Summary
Lucy, now called by her original name of Grace, is at home with Hannah. She is terrified and angry, and she screams for her mother and father. Septimus comforts Hannah, explaining that it will take time for Grace to come around. He promises that Tom will be punished for his crime. Septimus wonders briefly if it is wrong to keep Grace from Isabel, and he pushes away thoughts of what the Graysmarks must be feeling. Ultimately, he decides that Grace belongs with her true family, and he hopes that Hannah can cope with the new challenges ahead. Septimus intends to support his daughter and to compensate for the years he had shut her out.
Knuckey questions both Isabel and Tom, trying to determine whether Frank was already dead when the boat washed up or if Tom killed him. Isabel refuses to answer. When Tom learns of Isabel’s unwillingness to defend him, he understands that she may betray him as punishment for the loss he has forced on her. Isabel’s fury transforms her into a fearful being, ready to lash out and inflict punishment on Tom for his betrayal.
Chapter 27 Summary
Ralph comes to visit Tom in the cells and refuses to believe that Tom threatened Isabel and forced her to keep the baby. Tom tells Ralph that he believes he owes Isabel for causing her pain.
Tom’s lawyer also suspects that Tom isn’t telling the truth and correctly deduces what happened on Janus Rock when the dinghy washed up on the shore. He tries to convince Tom to come clean because a jury would have mercy on them both. Tom insists on protecting Isabel, despite the fact that the penalty will be much harsher for a man who is suspected of the crime to which he has falsely admitted. It would not be a stretch for a jury to believe that a man who would keep a baby and threaten his wife is also capable of killing Frank Roennfeldt.
Meanwhile, Hannah goes to Dr. Sumpton for advice as she struggles to form a relationship with Grace. He recommends complete separation from Tom and Isabel so that Grace will forget them.
Chapter 28 Summary
Bluey comes to visit Tom and tells him that he won’t take the reward money. Tom seems indifferent and charges Bluey with the task of looking in on Isabel. Bluey delivers the message to Isabel, who is surprised and shaken. She tries to make sense of Tom’s words and of what she considers his betrayal of her. She struggles with her loss of Lucy, of Tom, of her brothers, and of her stillborn babies. So far, Isabel has remained silent about Tom, neither incriminating nor exonerating him. His fate is in her hands.
Trying to find comfort in his cell, Tom maps out the exact position the stars would be in that night on the ceiling. He is comforted by the expanse of the universe, where acts of inflicting wounds and healing have taken place for centuries.
Although Bill’s instinct tells him that Tom is not a liar nor is he a violent man, Bill is loyal to his one surviving child, Isabel. Sergeant Knuckey explains the legal aspects of the situation to Bill—Isabel is not criminally liable for anything Tom made her do, but she does need to tell her side of the story. Spragg is looking for any hint that Frank was alive when he arrived on Janus.
Hannah’s memory of Frank gives her strength to persevere in her new relationship with her daughter, but her struggles continue as Grace refuses to forget Tom and Isabel nor will she accept her new home.
Chapter 29 Summary
Ralph continues to try and convince Tom to tell the truth, but Tom is stalwart, blaming himself for bringing Isabel to Janus Rock in the first place.
Hannah struggles with her feelings about Tom. He saved her all those years ago on the ship to Partageuse; how could he have taken Grace from her? She thinks of his notes and his request that she pray for him. Ultimately she does, praying that he will be dealt with justly.
Septimus, thinking of how his daughter Gwen grieved at the loss of her mother years ago, hatches a plan to help Grace overcome her grief at losing her parents. Together, they explore the forest near Potts’ Timber Mill, where Grace is enthralled with the number of trees and animals she has never seen before. Septimus explains how, when he was about her age, he had to say good-bye to his mother and learn to love a new family. He explains that one day this forest will belong to her, which Grace seems to like. The relationship between Hannah and Grace begins to improve.
Chapters 25-29 Analysis
The first chapters of Part 3 explore the characters’ struggles to reconcile what they know about Tom with the pain he has caused them. Isabel struggles with a choice: She wants to make him suffer for hurting her and Lucy, but she hesitates to incriminate him in Frank’s death, which would be a lie. Bill and Hannah each try to come to terms with the fact that the man they thought they knew and trusted could be capable of a heartless crime. Ralph and Tom’s lawyer deduce that Tom’s story is a lie and know instinctively that a woman who miscarried three times would want to keep a child that miraculously appears. As these characters grapple with these moral issues, the author further develops the theme of the difference between right and wrong.
Spragg represents a world outside of Partageuse, one that does not share in the grief that binds the small community together, or their inclination to forgive mistakes. Knuckey, however, is intimately connected with the residents of Partageuse and their tragedies, including the loss of Isabel’s brothers, Septimus’ wife and his longtime estrangement from Hannah, as well as Hannah’s losses.
In these chapters, the theme of fate and free intersects with the symbolism of Janus Rock. As the reader learns more about the isolation of Janus Rock, the different effects it has on Tom and Isabel become more apparent. For Tom, the island symbolizes a separation from the world that he needed in order to survive after the war. The simplicity of life on the island meant he would never have to worry about doing the right thing. This separation from the world was not something that Isabel could survive, because it gave her permission to impose her will in ways that violated her society’s moral code.
