The Lightkeeper's Wife

Mary wants to return to Bruny Island before she dies. It was on the island that she met her husband, Jack, and where they lived for many years when he was the lighthouse keeper. There are so many memories - good and bad. Mary arranges to rent a cabin where she can watch the ocean and the passing birds. Leon, the park ranger, calls in each day to ensure that she is OK.

Her son, Tom is trying to work out how how wants to live his life. While he was on a field trip to Antarctica, nine years earlier, his marriage broke up and he had been unsettled ever since. He visits his mother whenever he can, particularly as he feels guilty that he was overseas when his father died. Tom has a job as a mechanic which he enjoys but he still has Antarctica in his system and considers returning for another field trip.

The Lightkeeper's Wife by Karen Viggers is about memories of the past plus dynamics within a family and deciding what is really important in life. Mary wants the end of her life to be on her own terms. She also has a secret which she finds difficult to reveal. Much of the novel describes the environment where the story is revealed - Bruny Island and Antarctica.