A Far-flung Life

The mesmeric new novel from the author of the award-winning global bestseller, THE LIGHT BETWEEN OCEANS 
____________ 
 
'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 Homemade God 
 
‘A big, bold story of tragedy and resilience. I was completely swept away’ BONNIE GARMUS, author of Lessons in Chemistry 
 
'One of those rare books that fill the soul' DONAL RYAN, author of Heart be at Peace and The Spinning Heart 
 
‘Truly a masterpiece. The kind of book you will remember for the rest of your life, and I love the very bones of it’ JOANNA CANNON, author of The Trouble with Goats and Sheep 
 
'Epic, grand, intimate and aching. I loved it’ MIRANDA COWLEY HELLER, author of The Paper Palace 
____________ 
 
Western Australia, 1958. A truck rumbles along a lonely outback road. A moment’s inattention, and in a few muddled seconds the lives of the MacBride family are shattered. 
 
Instead of leaving them to heal, fate comes back for them 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. 
 
Set in the expanse of a vast and flat landscape, where the weather is a capricious god and a million-acre sheep station is barely a dot on the map, A Far-flung Life explores the hearts of a handful of isolated souls and the secrets they shield in order to survive. 
 
Capturing a family, a community, a generation, M L Stedman tells of the many ways humans can do each other wrong and how we move on when things can’t be put right. With shimmering prose and a delicious wit, the mysteries of being human are laid bare in this hopeful meditation on time and resilience and the lengths we go to to protect what we love. 
 
***** 
 
Praise for The Light Between Oceans: 
 
'An extraordinary book…Unforgettable' Guardian 
'A moving tale . . . prepare to weep' New York Times 
‘A moving tale. One of this year's must-reads’ Stylist Magazine

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.

A big, bold story of tragedy and resilience. I was completely swept away.

BONNIE GARMUS, author of LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY

Truly a masterpiece. I loved the very bones of it

Epic, grand, intimate and aching. 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

Mesmerising and unforgettable, this sweeping novel aches with life’s impossible choices, thrums with love and pain, and imprints itself on your heart. I loved it.

One of those books that fill the soul. I couldn’t put it down. What an incredible story, as vast and starkly beautiful as the unforgiving terrain of its setting, and filled with light and love.'

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.

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.

The mesmeric new novel from the author of the award-winning global bestseller, THE LIGHT BETWEEN OCEANS 
____________ 
 
'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 Homemade God 
 
‘A big, bold story of tragedy and resilience. I was completely swept away’ BONNIE GARMUS, author of Lessons in Chemistry 
 
'One of those rare books that fill the soul' DONAL RYAN, author of Heart be at Peace and The Spinning Heart 
 
‘Truly a masterpiece. The kind of book you will remember for the rest of your life, and I love the very bones of it’ JOANNA CANNON, author of The Trouble with Goats and Sheep 
 
'Epic, grand, intimate and aching. I loved it’ MIRANDA COWLEY HELLER, author of The Paper Palace 
____________ 
 
Western Australia, 1958. A truck rumbles along a lonely outback road. A moment’s inattention, and in a few muddled seconds the lives of the MacBride family are shattered. 
 
Instead of leaving them to heal, fate comes back for them 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. 
 
Set in the expanse of a vast and flat landscape, where the weather is a capricious god and a million-acre sheep station is barely a dot on the map, A Far-flung Life explores the hearts of a handful of isolated souls and the secrets they shield in order to survive. 
 
Capturing a family, a community, a generation, M L Stedman tells of the many ways humans can do each other wrong and how we move on when things can’t be put right. With shimmering prose and a delicious wit, the mysteries of being human are laid bare in this hopeful meditation on time and resilience and the lengths we go to to protect what we love.

M L Stedman

Discover the sweeping Sunday Times bestselling and prize-winning novel, made into a major motion picture starring Alicia Vikander, Michael Fassbender, and Rachel Weisz. 
 
NEARLY FIVE MILLION COPIES SOLD 
'An extraordinary book…Unforgettable' Guardian 
'A moving tale . . . prepare to weep' New York Times 
'Irresistible . . . a high concept plot that keeps you riveted from the first page' Oprah Magazine 
'A love story that is both persuasive and tender' Sunday Times 
‘A moving tale. One of this year's must-reads’ Stylist Magazine 
‘Delicate and imaginative . . . beautifully written . . . deserves every single bit of its success.’ Scotsman 
____________________ 
After experiencing the horrors of The Western Front, Tom moves to Janus Island to work as a lighthouse keeper. He hopes that life on the remote island with his wife Izzy will bring him peace following the war. 
The two of them are happy together, although frustrations arise the longer they try for a child that never comes. 
But then, one day, a boat washes up on the shore of their little island. In it, lies a dead man - and a crying baby. 
 
Faced with an impossible decision, Tom and Izzy do what they think is right and follow their hearts. What happens next will break yours. 
____________________ 
 
READERS ADORE IT: 
***** 'A beautiful, poignant story' 
***** 'By far, one of the best books I've ever read' 
***** 'A stunning and enjoyable read, one you won't forget' 
 
**Cover may vary**

M L Stedman

Books by M L Stedman

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