A Far-Flung Life - by M L Stedman (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

When we do something that can't be undone or mended, how do we go on living? How do we find our North Star when there is no right answer? These are the questions at the center of M. L. Stedman's unforgettable and magisterial new novel, A Far-flung Life. From the author of the beloved and bestselling The Light Between Oceans, this is a sweeping and epic story of a family, a tragedy, and the aftermath that reverberates for decades.

Remote Western Australia, 1958: here, for generations, the MacBrides have lived on a vast sheep station, Meredith Downs. It is a million acres, an ocean of arid land. On an ordinary day, on a lonely road, under the unending blue sky, patriarch Phil MacBride swerves to avoid a kangaroo. In seconds the lives of the entire MacBride family are shattered. And then, tragedy revisits when a twist of consequences claims the life of one sibling, and leads another to give up everything for the sake of an innocent child. Matt, the youngest MacBride, is plunged into a moral and emotional journey for which there is no map, no guide. The secrets at the heart of this gutting and beautiful story force him to choose between love and duty, sacrifice and happiness.

A Far-flung Life is a tale about family and belonging, fate and time. It is about people trying to do their best, and each, for private reasons, seeking shelter from the storm of life.

Can a fleeting moment unravel a whole life, mar it indelibly and irrevocably? Can compassion, resilience and forgiveness allow us to come to terms with our human imperfections? These are the questions Stedman asks in A Far-flung Life, her profoundly moving, uplifting, and luminous new novel about what the heart can endure for the sake of love.

Review Quotes

"M.L. Stedman's new novel A Far-flung Life was well-worth the wait. Epic, grand, intimate and aching, it is a novel that carries its secrets in hidden places, burying its wounds in the vast, empty landscape of Western Australia and in the broken hearts of its characters. I loved it." --Miranda Cowley Heller, author of The Paper Palace

"A big, bold story of tragedy and resilience. I was completely swept away." --Bonnie Garmus, author of Lessons in Chemistry

"One of the most beautiful stories you will ever read... so deeply insightful... the kind of book you will remember and treasure for the rest of your life." --Joanna Cannon, author of The Trouble with Goats and Sheep

"Heart-wrenching and beautifully set. A gorgeous feast of a novel about family, community, love and the lengths we will go to save them all." --Rachel Joyce, author of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry

"One of those rare books that fill the soul." --Donal Ryan, author of Heart, Be at Peace

Praise for The Light Between Oceans

"Irresistible... seductive... a high concept plot that keeps you riveted from the first page." --Sarah Nelson, O, the Oprah Magazine

"This heartbreaking debut from M L Stedman is a gem of a book that you'll have trouble putting down." --Good Housekeeping

"Lyrical... Stedman's debut signals a career certain to deliver future treasures." --People

"A beautifully delineated tale of love and loss, right and wrong, and what we will do for the happiness of those most dear." --Tova Beiser, The Boston Globe

"Elegantly rendered...heart-wrenching...the relationship between Tom and Isabel, in particular, is beautifully drawn." --Elysa Gardner, USA Today

"Told with the authoritative simplicity of a fable... Stedman's intricate descriptions of the craggy Australian coastline and her easy mastery of an old-time provincial vernacular are engrossing. As the couple at the lighthouse are drawn into and increasingly tragic set of consequences, these remote, strange lives are rendered immediate and familiar." --The New Yorker

"This fine, suspenseful debut explores desperation, morality, and loss, and considers the damaging ways in which we store our private sorrows, and the consequences of such terrible secrets."--Martha Stewart Whole Living

"Haunting... Stedman draws the reader into her emotionally complex story right from the beginning, with lush descriptions of this savage and beautiful landscape, and vivid characters with whom we can readily empathize. Hers is a stunning and memorable debut."--Booklist, starred review

"Stedman sets the stage beautifully to allow for a heart-wrenching moral dilemma to play out... Most impressive is the subtle yet profound maturation of Isabel and Tom as characters."--Publishers Weekly, starred review

"The miraculous arrival of a child in the life of a barren couple delivers profound love but also the seeds of destruction. Moral dilemmas don't come more exquisite than the one around which Australian novelist Stedman constructs her debut."--Kirkus Reviews, starred review

"An extraordinary and heart-rending book about good people, tragic decisions and the beauty found in each of them." --Markus Zusak, author of The Book Thief

"M.L. Stedman's The Light Between Oceans is a beautiful novel about isolation and courage in the face of enormous loss. It gets into your heart stealthily, until you stop hoping the characters will make different choices and find you can only watch, transfixed, as every conceivable choice becomes an impossible one. I couldn't look away from the page and then I couldn't see it, through tears. It's a stunning debut." --Maile Meloy, author of Both Ways Is the Only Way I Want It

"M.L. Stedman, a spectacularly sure storyteller, swept me to a remote island nearly a century ago, where a lighthouse keeper and his wife make a choice that shatters many lives, including their own. This is a novel in which justice for one character means another's tragic loss, and we care desperately for both. Reading The Light Between Oceans is a total-immersion experience, extraordinarily moving." --Monica Ali, author of Love Marriage and Brick Lane

"Sublimely written, poetic in its intensity and frailty...This is a simply beautiful story that deserves the praise and wide audience it's receiving. A stunning debut from a new voice that I can't wait to hear again." --Karen Brooks, author of Illumination

About the Author