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Table of Contents
About The Book
From the mega bestselling and acclaimed author of The Light Between Oceans, a global phenomenon, comes a magnificent and spectacularly moving new novel about family secrets that must never be revealed, and what the heart can endure for the sake of love.
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 secret at the heart of this gutting and beautiful story forces 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.
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 secret at the heart of this gutting and beautiful story forces 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.
Product Details
- Publisher: Scribner (March 2, 2027)
- Length: 448 pages
- ISBN13: 9781668219621
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Raves and Reviews
“A wrenching tale of love tested by secrecy…an epic about resisting love in the name of love…The terror and, yes, the beauty of that struggle burn hotter with each passing chapter.” —Ron Charles
“Stedman returns with another epic redolent of Thomas Hardy—fit with realist grit, relentless family calamity, and a remote Western Australian setting that, like Hardy’s brooding English moors, radiates such beauty and hostility, it’s almost a character in its own right.” —NPR
“The beauty and breadth of the landscape stand in counterpoint to the horrors of the human lives playing out upon it. Stedman describes the everyday elements of station life with graceful accuracy...and lands every blow thanks to her patient accumulation of ordinary life...A Far-Flung Life makes the argument that a family is not defined by bloodline or by the catastrophes visited upon it, but by the daily, dogged work of holding itself together.” —The New York Times Book Review
“An intimate interrogation of moral ambiguity…a masterful work articulating no less than the daily herculean labors, vast and small, of a life lived.” —The Guardian
“A masterful epic…a return to form for legendary Stedman and her many fans, a gripping and heart-stopping exploration of family, loss, and love.” —LitHub
“Luminous and unforgettable, M. L. Stedman’s latest novel explores how compassion and forgiveness can help us live with the things that cannot be undone.” —Woman’s World
“M.L. Stedman awes and transports readers with the astonishing A Far-flung Life, a sweeping family drama spanning the latter half of the 20th century….Like the heartrending The Light Between Oceans, the MacBrides’ story interrogates ideas of right and wrong in specific and complicated cases, and the experience of humans writ small against a vast landscape…Heartbreaking and painfully beautiful, A Far-flung Life will haunt and comfort long past its final page.” —Shelf Awareness
“This stunning novel tells the story of the MacBride family, torn apart by tragedy, and shows how one single moment of inattention can have ripple effects through the generations.” —Good Housekeeping
“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
“A wrenching tale of love tested by secrecy…an epic about resisting love in the name of love…The terror and, yes, the beauty of that struggle burn hotter with each passing chapter.” —Ron Charles
“Stedman returns with another epic redolent of Thomas Hardy—fit with realist grit, relentless family calamity, and a remote Western Australian setting that, like Hardy’s brooding English moors, radiates such beauty and hostility, it’s almost a character in its own right.” —NPR
“The beauty and breadth of the landscape stand in counterpoint to the horrors of the human lives playing out upon it. Stedman describes the everyday elements of station life with graceful accuracy...and lands every blow thanks to her patient accumulation of ordinary life...A Far-Flung Life makes the argument that a family is not defined by bloodline or by the catastrophes visited upon it, but by the daily, dogged work of holding itself together.” —The New York Times Book Review
“An intimate interrogation of moral ambiguity…a masterful work articulating no less than the daily herculean labors, vast and small, of a life lived.” —The Guardian
“A masterful epic…a return to form for legendary Stedman and her many fans, a gripping and heart-stopping exploration of family, loss, and love.” —LitHub
“Luminous and unforgettable, M. L. Stedman’s latest novel explores how compassion and forgiveness can help us live with the things that cannot be undone.” —Woman’s World
“M.L. Stedman awes and transports readers with the astonishing A Far-flung Life, a sweeping family drama spanning the latter half of the 20th century….Like the heartrending The Light Between Oceans, the MacBrides’ story interrogates ideas of right and wrong in specific and complicated cases, and the experience of humans writ small against a vast landscape…Heartbreaking and painfully beautiful, A Far-flung Life will haunt and comfort long past its final page.” —Shelf Awareness
“This stunning novel tells the story of the MacBride family, torn apart by tragedy, and shows how one single moment of inattention can have ripple effects through the generations.” —Good Housekeeping
“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
“A wrenching tale of love tested by secrecy…an epic about resisting love in the name of love…The terror and, yes, the beauty of that struggle burn hotter with each passing chapter.” —Ron Charles
“Stedman returns with another epic redolent of Thomas Hardy—fit with realist grit, relentless family calamity, and a remote Western Australian setting that, like Hardy’s brooding English moors, radiates such beauty and hostility, it’s almost a character in its own right.” —NPR
“The beauty and breadth of the landscape stand in counterpoint to the horrors of the human lives playing out upon it. Stedman describes the everyday elements of station life with graceful accuracy...and lands every blow thanks to her patient accumulation of ordinary life...A Far-Flung Life makes the argument that a family is not defined by bloodline or by the catastrophes visited upon it, but by the daily, dogged work of holding itself together.” —The New York Times Book Review
“An intimate interrogation of moral ambiguity…a masterful work articulating no less than the daily herculean labors, vast and small, of a life lived.” —The Guardian
“A masterful epic…a return to form for legendary Stedman and her many fans, a gripping and heart-stopping exploration of family, loss, and love.” —LitHub
“Luminous and unforgettable, M. L. Stedman’s latest novel explores how compassion and forgiveness can help us live with the things that cannot be undone.” —Woman’s World
“M.L. Stedman awes and transports readers with the astonishing A Far-flung Life, a sweeping family drama spanning the latter half of the 20th century….Like the heartrending The Light Between Oceans, the MacBrides’ story interrogates ideas of right and wrong in specific and complicated cases, and the experience of humans writ small against a vast landscape…Heartbreaking and painfully beautiful, A Far-flung Life will haunt and comfort long past its final page.” —Shelf Awareness
“This stunning novel tells the story of the MacBride family, torn apart by tragedy, and shows how one single moment of inattention can have ripple effects through the generations.” —Good Housekeeping
“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
“A wrenching tale of love tested by secrecy…an epic about resisting love in the name of love…The terror and, yes, the beauty of that struggle burn hotter with each passing chapter.” —Ron Charles
“Stedman returns with another epic redolent of Thomas Hardy—fit with realist grit, relentless family calamity, and a remote Western Australian setting that, like Hardy’s brooding English moors, radiates such beauty and hostility, it’s almost a character in its own right.” —NPR
“The beauty and breadth of the landscape stand in counterpoint to the horrors of the human lives playing out upon it. Stedman describes the everyday elements of station life with graceful accuracy...and lands every blow thanks to her patient accumulation of ordinary life...A Far-Flung Life makes the argument that a family is not defined by bloodline or by the catastrophes visited upon it, but by the daily, dogged work of holding itself together.” —The New York Times Book Review
“An intimate interrogation of moral ambiguity…a masterful work articulating no less than the daily herculean labors, vast and small, of a life lived.” —The Guardian
“A masterful epic…a return to form for legendary Stedman and her many fans, a gripping and heart-stopping exploration of family, loss, and love.” —LitHub
“Luminous and unforgettable, M. L. Stedman’s latest novel explores how compassion and forgiveness can help us live with the things that cannot be undone.” —Woman’s World
“M.L. Stedman awes and transports readers with the astonishing A Far-flung Life, a sweeping family drama spanning the latter half of the 20th century….Like the heartrending The Light Between Oceans, the MacBrides’ story interrogates ideas of right and wrong in specific and complicated cases, and the experience of humans writ small against a vast landscape…Heartbreaking and painfully beautiful, A Far-flung Life will haunt and comfort long past its final page.” —Shelf Awareness
“This stunning novel tells the story of the MacBride family, torn apart by tragedy, and shows how one single moment of inattention can have ripple effects through the generations.” —Good Housekeeping
“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
“A wrenching tale of love tested by secrecy…an epic about resisting love in the name of love…The terror and, yes, the beauty of that struggle burn hotter with each passing chapter.” —Ron Charles
“Stedman returns with another epic redolent of Thomas Hardy—fit with realist grit, relentless family calamity, and a remote Western Australian setting that, like Hardy’s brooding English moors, radiates such beauty and hostility, it’s almost a character in its own right.” —NPR
“The beauty and breadth of the landscape stand in counterpoint to the horrors of the human lives playing out upon it. Stedman describes the everyday elements of station life with graceful accuracy...and lands every blow thanks to her patient accumulation of ordinary life...A Far-Flung Life makes the argument that a family is not defined by bloodline or by the catastrophes visited upon it, but by the daily, dogged work of holding itself together.” —The New York Times Book Review
“An intimate interrogation of moral ambiguity…a masterful work articulating no less than the daily herculean labors, vast and small, of a life lived.” —The Guardian
“A masterful epic…a return to form for legendary Stedman and her many fans, a gripping and heart-stopping exploration of family, loss, and love.” —LitHub
“Luminous and unforgettable, M. L. Stedman’s latest novel explores how compassion and forgiveness can help us live with the things that cannot be undone.” —Woman’s World
“M.L. Stedman awes and transports readers with the astonishing A Far-flung Life, a sweeping family drama spanning the latter half of the 20th century….Like the heartrending The Light Between Oceans, the MacBrides’ story interrogates ideas of right and wrong in specific and complicated cases, and the experience of humans writ small against a vast landscape…Heartbreaking and painfully beautiful, A Far-flung Life will haunt and comfort long past its final page.” —Shelf Awareness
“This stunning novel tells the story of the MacBride family, torn apart by tragedy, and shows how one single moment of inattention can have ripple effects through the generations.” —Good Housekeeping
“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
“A wrenching tale of love tested by secrecy…an epic about resisting love in the name of love…The terror and, yes, the beauty of that struggle burn hotter with each passing chapter.” —Ron Charles
“Stedman returns with another epic redolent of Thomas Hardy—fit with realist grit, relentless family calamity, and a remote Western Australian setting that, like Hardy’s brooding English moors, radiates such beauty and hostility, it’s almost a character in its own right.” —NPR
“The beauty and breadth of the landscape stand in counterpoint to the horrors of the human lives playing out upon it. Stedman describes the everyday elements of station life with graceful accuracy...and lands every blow thanks to her patient accumulation of ordinary life...A Far-Flung Life makes the argument that a family is not defined by bloodline or by the catastrophes visited upon it, but by the daily, dogged work of holding itself together.” —The New York Times Book Review
“An intimate interrogation of moral ambiguity…a masterful work articulating no less than the daily herculean labors, vast and small, of a life lived.” —The Guardian
“A masterful epic…a return to form for legendary Stedman and her many fans, a gripping and heart-stopping exploration of family, loss, and love.” —LitHub
“Luminous and unforgettable, M. L. Stedman’s latest novel explores how compassion and forgiveness can help us live with the things that cannot be undone.” —Woman’s World
“M.L. Stedman awes and transports readers with the astonishing A Far-flung Life, a sweeping family drama spanning the latter half of the 20th century….Like the heartrending The Light Between Oceans, the MacBrides’ story interrogates ideas of right and wrong in specific and complicated cases, and the experience of humans writ small against a vast landscape…Heartbreaking and painfully beautiful, A Far-flung Life will haunt and comfort long past its final page.” —Shelf Awareness
“This stunning novel tells the story of the MacBride family, torn apart by tragedy, and shows how one single moment of inattention can have ripple effects through the generations.” —Good Housekeeping
“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
“A wrenching tale of love tested by secrecy…an epic about resisting love in the name of love…The terror and, yes, the beauty of that struggle burn hotter with each passing chapter.” —Ron Charles
“Stedman returns with another epic redolent of Thomas Hardy—fit with realist grit, relentless family calamity, and a remote Western Australian setting that, like Hardy’s brooding English moors, radiates such beauty and hostility, it’s almost a character in its own right.” —NPR
“The beauty and breadth of the landscape stand in counterpoint to the horrors of the human lives playing out upon it. Stedman describes the everyday elements of station life with graceful accuracy...and lands every blow thanks to her patient accumulation of ordinary life...A Far-Flung Life makes the argument that a family is not defined by bloodline or by the catastrophes visited upon it, but by the daily, dogged work of holding itself together.” —The New York Times Book Review
“An intimate interrogation of moral ambiguity…a masterful work articulating no less than the daily herculean labors, vast and small, of a life lived.” —The Guardian
“A masterful epic…a return to form for legendary Stedman and her many fans, a gripping and heart-stopping exploration of family, loss, and love.” —LitHub
“Luminous and unforgettable, M. L. Stedman’s latest novel explores how compassion and forgiveness can help us live with the things that cannot be undone.” —Woman’s World
“M.L. Stedman awes and transports readers with the astonishing A Far-flung Life, a sweeping family drama spanning the latter half of the 20th century….Like the heartrending The Light Between Oceans, the MacBrides’ story interrogates ideas of right and wrong in specific and complicated cases, and the experience of humans writ small against a vast landscape…Heartbreaking and painfully beautiful, A Far-flung Life will haunt and comfort long past its final page.” —Shelf Awareness
“This stunning novel tells the story of the MacBride family, torn apart by tragedy, and shows how one single moment of inattention can have ripple effects through the generations.” —Good Housekeeping
“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
“A wrenching tale of love tested by secrecy…an epic about resisting love in the name of love…The terror and, yes, the beauty of that struggle burn hotter with each passing chapter.” —Ron Charles
“Stedman returns with another epic redolent of Thomas Hardy—fit with realist grit, relentless family calamity, and a remote Western Australian setting that, like Hardy’s brooding English moors, radiates such beauty and hostility, it’s almost a character in its own right.” —NPR
“The beauty and breadth of the landscape stand in counterpoint to the horrors of the human lives playing out upon it. Stedman describes the everyday elements of station life with graceful accuracy...and lands every blow thanks to her patient accumulation of ordinary life...A Far-Flung Life makes the argument that a family is not defined by bloodline or by the catastrophes visited upon it, but by the daily, dogged work of holding itself together.” —The New York Times Book Review
“An intimate interrogation of moral ambiguity…a masterful work articulating no less than the daily herculean labors, vast and small, of a life lived.” —The Guardian
“A masterful epic…a return to form for legendary Stedman and her many fans, a gripping and heart-stopping exploration of family, loss, and love.” —LitHub
“Luminous and unforgettable, M. L. Stedman’s latest novel explores how compassion and forgiveness can help us live with the things that cannot be undone.” —Woman’s World
“M.L. Stedman awes and transports readers with the astonishing A Far-flung Life, a sweeping family drama spanning the latter half of the 20th century….Like the heartrending The Light Between Oceans, the MacBrides’ story interrogates ideas of right and wrong in specific and complicated cases, and the experience of humans writ small against a vast landscape…Heartbreaking and painfully beautiful, A Far-flung Life will haunt and comfort long past its final page.” —Shelf Awareness
“This stunning novel tells the story of the MacBride family, torn apart by tragedy, and shows how one single moment of inattention can have ripple effects through the generations.” —Good Housekeeping
“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
“A wrenching tale of love tested by secrecy…an epic about resisting love in the name of love…The terror and, yes, the beauty of that struggle burn hotter with each passing chapter.” —Ron Charles
“Stedman returns with another epic redolent of Thomas Hardy—fit with realist grit, relentless family calamity, and a remote Western Australian setting that, like Hardy’s brooding English moors, radiates such beauty and hostility, it’s almost a character in its own right.” —NPR
“The beauty and breadth of the landscape stand in counterpoint to the horrors of the human lives playing out upon it. Stedman describes the everyday elements of station life with graceful accuracy...and lands every blow thanks to her patient accumulation of ordinary life...A Far-Flung Life makes the argument that a family is not defined by bloodline or by the catastrophes visited upon it, but by the daily, dogged work of holding itself together.” —The New York Times Book Review
“An intimate interrogation of moral ambiguity…a masterful work articulating no less than the daily herculean labors, vast and small, of a life lived.” —The Guardian
“A masterful epic…a return to form for legendary Stedman and her many fans, a gripping and heart-stopping exploration of family, loss, and love.” —LitHub
“Luminous and unforgettable, M. L. Stedman’s latest novel explores how compassion and forgiveness can help us live with the things that cannot be undone.” —Woman’s World
“M.L. Stedman awes and transports readers with the astonishing A Far-flung Life, a sweeping family drama spanning the latter half of the 20th century….Like the heartrending The Light Between Oceans, the MacBrides’ story interrogates ideas of right and wrong in specific and complicated cases, and the experience of humans writ small against a vast landscape…Heartbreaking and painfully beautiful, A Far-flung Life will haunt and comfort long past its final page.” —Shelf Awareness
“This stunning novel tells the story of the MacBride family, torn apart by tragedy, and shows how one single moment of inattention can have ripple effects through the generations.” —Good Housekeeping
“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
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