Review of A Far-Flung Life by M. L. Stedman

Stedman takes a remote Australian sheep farm and drops our main protagonists into agonizing scenarios that threaten to break their spirits and ruin them forever. This was a beautifully written tale of anguish, penance, and redemption.

A light coating of death dusts any scene you care to observe in the bush.... Death twinkles in this landscape like mineral sand.

A Far-Flung Life is an epic family story of generations carving out existence in remote Western Australia, ruled by secrets, hopes, and resignation.

We meet the MacBride family in the 1950s, in the midst of a long family history of sheep farming on their million-acre station Meredith Downs.

Patriarch Phil MacBride swerves to avoid a kangaroo while driving on a remote road with his two sons, and one moment leads to a tragedy, loss, and lives changed forevermore.

Stedman plunges the family into the depths of despair, throwing at them physical and mental damage, emotional angst, and painful shifts in family dynamics.

As things seem to settle into a new rhythm, Stedman introduces a strictly taboo scenario--a devastating mistake that was tough to read and that was so disturbing for me, it made it difficult to continue with the story afterward.

But the truth of the dark decision truly haunts our main protagonist Matt. After he learns what occurred, he feels that it's impossible to go on. Yet he lives through a day, then another, detesting himself and refusing joy and fulfillment, but going through his life largely in order to fulfill commitments to his mother, the land, and an innocent young boy.

The reverberating repercussions of that one night largely shape the story, and the story pivots on other lapses in judgment and momentary mistakes, which while less devastating, contribute to key events and characters' story arcs.

Aside from that enormous issue, the story offers so many elements I loved: the remote Australian setting, living off the land, reimagined family dynamics, characters who show depth and growth (including my favorite, Pete Peachy!), and an epic years-long tracking of the various players.

I appreciated Stedman's optimistic-feeling final scenes and ending.

More Australia-Set Books

M. L. Stedman is also the author of The Light Between Oceans.

Click here for more books set in Australia.