#BookReview of #AFarFlungLife by M L Stedman

‘A breath-taking historical family saga set against the vast Australian outback, A FAR-FLUNG LIFE is an epic novel of love and resilience, following a family bound by the secrets they shield in order to live.‘
A Far-Flung Life, Publisher Quote

[ About A Far-Flung Life ]

Outback Western Australia, 1958.

For generations, the MacBrides have lived on a remote sheep station, Meredith Downs. A million arid acres, it’s an ocean of land, where the weather is a capricious god, and time still roams untamed.

One 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.

Instead of leaving wounds to heal, Fate comes for them yet again, in a twist of consequences that will cause one of them to lose their life, and another to sacrifice theirs 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, as he is forced to choose between love and duty, sacrifice and happiness.

[ My Review ]

A Far-Flung Life by M.L. Stedman published March 5th with Doubleday/Transworld and is described as ‘a sweeping novel of family and belonging, of compassion and hope and a powerful testament to the enduring strength of love.‘

This is a difficult book for me to review as I suspect my view might be a little bit controversial. The writing, the descriptions, the characters are all beautifully depicted with a very affecting thread running throughout the novel but, I did experience discomfort with this specific thread and how it was handled. There is quite a shocking incident that occurs that has huge repercussions as the years unfold and could have a huge impact on future generations of the family central to the narrative. The consequences are alluded to and the morality of the issue is highlighted but the outcome just didn’t sit well with me. I rarely mention ratings in my reviews but due to this one ethical dilemma I cannot give A Far-Flung Life the full five stars, across the board, that many other reviewers are allocating to this novel. This is a very powerful tale so do please pick up a copy and make your own decision because reading, as we all know is such a subjective activity and lends itself to great debates.

Set in a remote corner of Western Australian , A Far-Flung Life tells the tragic story of a family whose world pivots following a dreadful accident involving a truck and a kangaroo. As pastoralists, the MacBride family have survived many life-altering situations across generations. Their home, Meredith Downs, has seen dramatic changes impacted by societal, global, geographical, environmental and cultural events.

Living such a secluded existence toughens a community but when disaster strikes, word gets out via ‘the invisible network that spreads across stations and towns, like veins in a body sending vital support’. This network is the lifeblood of this vast landscape and it is this network that comes to Lorna MacBride’s side when she most needs it. Life has to go on. Livestock need minding, Land needs maintaining and ‘everyone knew that if they were in the same Godforsaken straits, they’d want their neighbours to appear on their doorstep to help’. Lorna struggles to see the light. She reflects on the past with the most recent memories piercing her very soul.

Rosie, her daughter, dreams of a life beyond the isolation of the outback. She loves her family but feels restricted within the confines of her environment. Matt, her youngest boy, is traumatised and damaged, permanently scarred, both physically and emotionally, from the overwhelming twist his young life has taken. Like Rosie, his dreams are shattered on a January day in 1958, and there is no going back.

A Far-Flung Life stretches across the years as time passes and the MacBride family dynamic changes. People come and go, prospectors make their presence felt, automation changes farm practices and transport becomes more accessible. The conveniences of modern life slowly seep in but the memories remain which prove insurmountable for some, too overwhelming to accept.

With sweeping descriptions that are so very atmospheric, the heat radiates off the pages and, even though the landscape is vast, there is a clearly defined claustrophobic element that is ever present. A Far-Flung Life is a visceral and almost punishing novel as it lays before the reader such an evocative and morally ambiguous narrative. A family saga bursting with pain, grief, hope, resilience and ambition, A Far-Flung Life is an epic read, a cinematic experience, a brilliant book club choice!!

‘We arrive, we grow, we thrive, then we’re gone. Then the forgetting happens, and once-solid foundations are barely traces in the earth, from unguessable lives. Whole communities and the ties that bound them are blown away with the dust.’

[ Thank you to Doubleday and Netgalley for a copy of A Far-Flung Life in exchange for my honest review]

[ Bio ]

M L Stedman was born and raised in Western Australia and now lives in London. Her first novel, The Light Between Oceans, was a Sunday Times, New York Times and international bestseller and won the Goodreads Choice Best Historical Novel Award and the HWA Goldsboro Crown Debut.

It was also longlisted for the Women’s Prize and the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction, nominated for the International IMPAC Dublin literary award and shortlisted as an Amazon Rising Star. In Australia, it won the Indie Best Debut and the Indie Best Book awards and was longlisted for the Miles Franklin Award and the Literary Society Gold Medal. The Light Between Oceans has been published in around forty-five languages and has sold nearly five million copies worldwide. It was made into a Dreamworks film starring Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander, produced by Heyday Films. 

A Far-flung Life is M L Stedman’s second novel, to be published worldwide.