Book Summary and Reviews of A Far-flung Life by M.L. Stedman

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Cathryn_Conroy

A Deeply Sorrowful and Melancholy Book That Celebrates the Power of Families
This is a big family saga about secrets—big, scandalous secrets—that are so devastating and so shameful that their revelation will not only ruin a respected family's reputation in a close-knit community, but also destroy lives.

Written by M.L. Stedman, this is the story of the MacBride family, who for generations have operated the sheep station Meredith Downs in Western Australia, breeding some 20,000 sheep for wool and meat. They own nearly one million acres of land in an arid, harsh and unforgiving climate prone to drought, cyclone windstorms, and excess heat.

The novel opens on January 10, 1958 when Phil MacBride and his two sons, Warren and Matt, are driving on their massive property. A tragic accident with a kangaroo leaves Phil and Warren dead. Matt survives—barely. This is not a spoiler as it happens in the opening pages and sets the scene for the rest of the book. Until then, the MacBrides were a blessed family. And then everything changed one hot summer morning.

Meanwhile, Rose, the only daughter and middle child, harbors a secret about that tragic day—a secret that explains why she wasn't in the vehicle instead of Matt. As Matt slowly recovers, Rosie is filled with guilt and remorse, and does everything she can to help her little brother regain some foothold on his former life. It is during this time that something horrific happens, and the consequences will last for decades to come.

Life goes on. But is there hope? Is there forgiveness? Is there honesty? Each character grapples with the past and what it means for the future in a way that is both profound and promising because grounding everything is the solidity of family—in all its incarnations.

One persistent theme in the novel is memory, as well as those things we forget. One of the children in the novel coins a term that I love: "forgetment." It's the opposite of memories; rather, it's those things we don't remember. And do our forgetments figure into our ability to forgive others and ourselves?

This is a deeply sorrowful and melancholy book that celebrates human resilience, emotional endurance, and the everlasting power of abiding family love.

Important Note No. 1: This novel is VERY slow to get revved up. Very, very slow. If you're the kind of reader who will give a book about 50 pages and then toss it aside if you're not enjoying it, resist that temptation with this one. It (finally) picks up about 100 pages in, and from then on it's excellent. Just give it time.

Important Note No. 2: You will learn far more about Australian sheep stations than you probably ever wanted to know. Just wade through it. The story that lays atop all this information is well worth it.

Cloggie Downunder

well worth the wait
“In the homestead at Meredith Downs, silence is a canvas on which each sound trails like a colour. The wind; a single fly; the clatter of a pan; the distant barking of a kelpie; the banging of a flywire door. There is no continuous murmur of traffic. No vague stream of voices. Each sound emerges for its solo, then fades into stillness, into a silence so complete it makes music of your heartbeat in your ears.”

A Far-flung Life is the second novel by award-winning, bestselling Australian author, M. L. Stedman. The MacBrides, pastoralists for over half a century, may have almost a million acres at Meredith Downs, but in outback Western Australia, that’s what you need to run sheep with any success. With any luck, the good years make up for the bad, but 1958 starts off worse than any, and not because of drought or flood or disease.

Phil MacBride, driving to their closest town, Wanderrie Creek, with his two sons, runs off the road, overturns, and there is only one survivor. Phil and his eldest son, Warren, are killed; eighteen-year-old Matthew, the youngest MacBride, suffers diffuse axonal injury when he is thrown from the truck, leaving him with neurological deficits. The burden is on a grieving Lorna, her daughter, Rose, the trainee manager, Miles Beaumont, and the station hands, to run the property.

Of course, in the outback, neighbours may be forty miles and more distant, but they arrive without delay to help with what needs doing. But fate isn’t done with the MacBrides yet: by the time twelve months has passed, Matthew’s rehab is progressing depressingly slowly; an illegitimate child is born; and another MacBride departs their mortal coil.

A decade on, and things seem on an even keel, until the big mining company sends out a team of geologists to scout for minerals. Will they respect the fences, restore the landscape, avoid fouling the water sources?

Stedman gives the reader an enthralling plot with twists and surprises; with subtle use of popular culture references, her rendering of era is flawless, while the gorgeous prose of her description of settings is evocative, be it a sheep station in outback WA, a boarding school in Perth, the very basic roo-shooter’s camp, or anywhere in between.

“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. But no one ever built a house out of despair; no one ever invested in a new wool press out of regret. Every wreck, every ruin is the relic of a shrivelled dream, lasting long after the body of its dreamer has been received back into the earth with love or remorse or indifference.”

And the characters populating Wanderrie Creek and surrounds feel wholly authentic: the garrulous mail driver, the nosey postal clerk, the officious cop systematically undoing all the carefully-considered actions his predecessor took in sensitive matters, the seemingly-taciturn itinerant roo-shooter.

She gives her characters some wise words: “Keep a place in your heart for things that are beautiful. Beauty’ll help you get through dark times” and “Matt, you go on because the world’s interesting, and the ticket out of here’s one-way. Living is your one chance of revenge on life” and “When you think about it, everyone’s life’s a prison– of days, sort of. The trick is to get comfortable in it, I reckon. Find your freedom inside whatever your prison is”, all advice that truly helps those about whom they care so much.

Only the hard-of-heart will be able to read part three without a lump in the throat or a tear in the eye. Incredibly moving and thought-provoking, Stedman’s second novel has been well worth the wait.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Random House UK Penguin Random House Australia