A Far-Flung Life is a breathtaking and epic novel set in the vast outback of Australia—about tragedy, family secrets, and the enduring power of love. From the author of the acclaimed bestseller The Light Between Oceans.
Literary LitStackers, listen up! Another beauty is in presale now. Scribner invites readers on a journey into A Far-Flung Life, the second novel by M.L. Stedman. Early indications suggest a work of profound literary exploration. Though details remain carefully guarded, the publisher’s evocative description and the cover art hint at a reading experience sure to resonate with discerning readers. Here’s the advance reader word on the book. Consider A Far-Flung Life a literary must own and pre-order today.
In This Spotlight On A Far-Flung Life
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About A Far-Flung Life
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.
Praise for The Light Between Oceans
“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
“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
“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 M.L. Stedman, Author of A Far-Flung Life
M.L. Stedman was born and raised in Western Australia and now lives in London. The Light Between Oceans was her first novel. A Far-flung Life is her second novel.
Source: Publisher
Publisher: Scribner | Simon & Schuster
ISBN Trade Paperback 9781668230077
Pub Date Mar 3, 2026
Other LitStack Spots
We’ve also got our eyes on other novels this week, including The Light Between Oceans, by M.L. Stedman, The Women by Kristin Hannah, and Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall, each one a book we want to buy for our LitStack.
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