Immersive, engrossing fiction: ‘A Far-Flung Life’ by M.L. Stedman
Do you love a book you can fall into, immersing yourself into the place, time and people of the novel to the extent that you think about it in between reading and can’t wait to pick it up again?
I was delighted to find A Far-Flung Life just such a book.
Set in a remote sheep station in Western Australia, the story begins in the 1950s and concerns the MacBride family who have lived and farmed here for generations. Theirs is an ordinary story for the time and place – until it isn’t.
When a freak road accident kills two members of the family and seriously injures another, the whole family’s trajectory is changed forever. In the aftermath of the accident, 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. (From publisher’s website)
As with ML Stedman’s best-selling 2018 debut The Light Between Oceans, this novel examines what happens to ordinary people who are faced with extraordinary circumstances, and how fate, and the choices they make, both play a vital role in determining their futures.
The story’s events are narrated from the viewpoints of various major and some minor characters, showing how their thoughts, goals and fears affect their behaviour and the lives of those they are in relationship with. Every character felt real to me, their motivations driven by their own perspective on the worlds they inhabit.
Those worlds are beautifully depicted, especially the MacBride station, ‘Meredith Downs’, the vast landscapes surrounding it, and the small local town that services the farming communities. How do families and individuals cope with the isolation of these remote areas? What kinds of social lives do they conduct, and what inner lives do they lead? How are children educated, what do the day-to-day lives of sheep farmers look like? This novel answers these and many other questions in an immersive and engaging way.
There are some dark themes, to do with death, suicide, and family relationships; some readers might find some of the content challenging.
But, if you are able to try to understand why people make the choices they do in life, this novel will appeal. It deals sensitively with the results of trauma, both physical and moral/emotional. It’s a family saga, a coming-of-age story, a love story; a novel that poses several major moral quandaries and asks should we lay blame here or show compassion?
On any old outback property, you can see them, the skeletons of dreams. Houses long abandoned, windmills rusting, fence posts splintered, tank stands collapsed: every one of them was once a hopeful beginning…
Our lives come and go like these gold-rush towns. 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… In the end, we’re all looking for a place to ride out the storm of life. Among all these husks of houses and fossils of trees, we are like hermit crabs, borrowing a shelter for a time, and moving on.
A Far-Flung Life, loc 65 of 414 on ebook.I was engrossed in this big story right from it’s opening pages and although satisfied by the novel’s conclusion, I was sad to leave the MacBride family. Highly recommended.
A Far-Flung Life is published in March by Penguin Random House Australia.
My thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for a review copy.Imposter sydnrome: ‘The Writers Retreat’ by Victoria Brownlee
I admit to being a little puzzled by this novel. Described by the publishers as a ‘twisty and atmospheric thriller’, I was well into the second half wondering when the tension would begin. It’s definitely atmospheric – one of the best things about the book is its setting (a beautiful old home in the south of France, where the owners offer writing workshops and retreats for published and aspiring authors.)
The story centers around Kat, an Australian author who has a best-selling romance novel under her belt, but is catastrophically stuck on her second manuscript, with a crippling case of imposter sydrome. Perhaps she really can’t write, after all? Perhaps the success of her first book was a fluke?
On a whim she books a last-minute spot for a two week retreat in France, hoping that this will kick start her creativity and prompt her writing.
What she gets is so much more, because she begins to suspect that Helen, the retreat leader, is hiding something, which may have to do with the success of Helen’s own first novel.
Kat begins to pry and snoop, while keeping a daily journal as required by the workshop facilitators. This is where I began to lose patience, as the journal seemed to me to be repetitive and a bit whingy. It reads as journals often do – introspective, self-doubting, constantly questioning her decisions and impulses. Yet she does act impulsively, often unwisely, eventually leading herself into danger.
So, I found the novel slow moving, repetitive at times, frustrating at others.
Aspects I enjoyed were (as mentioned) the setting and some of the characters, who were well drawn. And the food! Victoria Brownlee has been a food writer and previously published light romantic novels set in France and featuring food, and she does capture the allure of the French culture, countryside and food beautifully.
So yes, this novel puzzled me. I spent some time while reading it trying to work out if it was a light escapist novel or a more serious thriller, and in the end decided on the former.
The Writers Retreat is published by Affirm Press (an imprint of Simon & Schuster) in March 2026.
My thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for an advance copy to review.
