Am I the only one who think Isabel is stupid and should of listen to Tom ?

[Donna]

I don't think Isabel is stupid. I think she was desperate and that desperation led to her bad choice. Living out there at the lighthouse with no other human contact for months on end, I think it would be easy for her to think that by keeping Lucy no one would get hurt. She may have felt that finding Lucy was a sign that she was to come to her rescue. Who knows what her true motivation was. I think it was a great book and am glad I read it.

[Laureen]

Most humans have an innate instinct called "a conscience". If Isabel didn't have a conscience then she must have had a serious psychological problem in living life. I think she knew that it was wrong but couldn't accept it. She must have known, like most mothers, that a replacement child was not a solution to grief just as her husband knew it. She had to have known there was another grieving mother out there somewhere. Usually, when we experience such loss, we are even more sensitive to the pain of others who may be suffering in the same way.

It was simply wrong but Isabel's selfish desire over-rode her conscience. That is the only explanation that makes sense to me.

[Natalia]

Laureen wrote: "Most humans have an innate instinct called "a conscience". If Isabel didn't have a conscience then she must have had a serious psychological problem in living life. I think she knew that it was w..."

I don't think she has done misconduct. She was wrong, it's true, but Lucy came not long after she lost another baby and psychological pain is more recent. Isabel clung to a baby she craved therefore return to think about, it's almost as if he were another baby died. In some ways she was selfish, but I don't consider at all guilty, or her or Tom.

[Julie]

Don't you think Lucy should have been allowed to stay with Isabel and Tom?
I think the way she seemed to come to terms with going back to her real mother was the most unrealistic part of the book.

[Melissa]

Of course Isabel was wrong not to let Tom report the baby's appearance. But she was also grieving terribly, and able to give herself some justification for the baby's lack of family (the dead man in the dinghy). It's the conflict between Tom's moral code and his love for Isabel (and baby Lucy) that makes the story. No conflict, no story, period.

[Sam]

Isabel should have been allowed to keep the child. (keeping all logic/truth aside)

Reason- follow where the heart shows u the sketch of your thoughts. and you shall realise that when they took away the child, at that moment... Isabel was already a mother and if you ask the child, she shall tell you the same.
to be true-- the world snatched the daughter from 'her' mother ..

[Laureen]

I still believe that it was a crime to take that child as if it was their own. Isabel assumed the role of Mother. It was not an adoption. Tom was complicit in that. He should have advised the authorities. Why are so few people unable to sympathise with the birth mother who lost her husband in tragic circumstances. She ended up losing everything. To have her child returned to her would have been a salve for her grief.
Isabel was selfish. The world had nothing to do with it. People make their own decisions.

[Erin]

I get Isabel was grieving the loss of her babies, but that's still not a good reason to keep the one that washed ashore. I did feel bad for her and was glad she got to be happy for a bit, but when she got mad at Tom because he started leaving the birth mom hints...I wanted to punch the lady. He was just doing what was morally right! It drove me CRAZY that she ignored him and let him take the blame because she was mad at him. Like get over it! I think it was worse when I saw it come to life in the movie recently, BUT I still love the book and think it was beautifully written AND the movie is great because who doesn't love Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander together?? So obviously, I have finished with many mixed emotions:)

[Maile]

Cyd wrote: "I could not stand Isabel. Very rarely do I dislike a character so much. She ruined the book for me."

I completely agree!