Are Secrets Helpful or Harmful? M. L. Stedman's Novel, A Far Flung Life

Maybe my attraction to the rough and desolate Australian outback started with Colleen McCullough's novel The Thorn Birds, a book that captured my heart in the late 1970s. I was mesmerized by the idea of living in an isolated place, connected to the land but fighting with it daily to survive. The fictional sheep station of Drogheda felt like a real place to me, and I was heartbroken over the tortured relationship between a young Meggie Cleary and an attractive priest named Ralph de Briccasart.

My attraction to Australia was recently re-ignited by reading Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy, a great blend of literary, climate, and romantic fiction. Wild Dark Shore is set on an isolated island between Australia and Antarctica where a seed bank is housed, a repository of thousands and thousands of seeds that could be accessed in case of a global disaster. Sadly, climate change is elevating the sea levels, and the seed bank is in danger. One man, Dominic Salt, and his family are the remaining inhabitants of the island caring for the seed bank until they can be removed by the last scientific transport to a safe location. But in the meantime, a shipwrecked woman washes up on shore to unlock a thrilling chain of events...

So maybe because of the literary connection I've had with this far-away continent, I was predisposed to connect with M. L. Stedman's 2026 novel, A Far Flung Life, set on a million-acre sheep station in Western Australia.

But predisposed or not, A Far Flung Life is a moving, emotional story about the power of secrets, the will to overcome tragedy, and the love that survives against all odds. If you don't want "fluff," and you're a reader who appreciates monumental stories that stay with you, don't miss this book!

When tragedy strikes

The MacBride family has worked Meredith Downs, a massive sheep station, for generations. They are a well-respected family, not wealthy, but comfortable. Every member of the family has devoted their lives to running a profitable operation. Phil and Lorna MacBride are loving partners in a good marriage, parenting their adult children, Warren, Rosie, and Matt.

But tragedy strikes when Phil and his sons are in the jeep. Phil swerves to avoid a kangaroo, something he has always warned the boys NOT to do.

In an instant, everything changes. Phil and Warren are killed. Matt suffers a traumatic brain injury, and Lorna and Rosie have to shoulder the full responsibilities of this huge sheep station as well as Matt's rehabilitation.

Colorful characters in A Far Flung Life

In addition to the MacBrides, other colorful characters appear throughout the book. There's Pete Peachey, the "Roo" shooter whose job is to roam the MacBride land killing the multitude of kangaroos that destroy fences and compete with the sheep's territory. The job fits Pete's need for solitude and privacy. There's Miles Beaumont, a wealthy English aristocrat who comes to learn management techniques. Both Peachey and Beaumont become integral to the continued operation of Meredith Downs. They also both become friends, mentors, and supporters of the MacBride family members.

In later years, a by-the-book policeman arrives to take over for the retiring officer, intent on closing all cases. There's a nosy postmaster's wife who wants to dig up dirt on everyone, and there's the very smart Andy, Lorna's grandson. Bonnie Edquist, a surveyor and geologist with a mining company, comes onto Meredith Downs, taking control of some of the land for essential minerals, as the law allows. And one community member tries to come to terms with death by attending every single funeral for decades.

Almost too much to take?

I freely admit that there was so much tragedy and such unbelievable consequences of a single action that I considered stopping my reading of the book. I almost did, thinking to myself, "I don't know that I can stand any more!" But the beauty of the language, the majesty and grandeur of the setting, and my connection to the characters made it impossible to quit.

I am so glad I didn't! Power through even though it hurts. It is worth it.

The issue of secrets

Without giving anything away, one of the major themes in the book is that of secrets. We all have them. Some are not life-changing. Some are devastating, ruin-your-life kind of information that you never want anyone else to know. Sometimes it's healing to release a secret. Other times, it's life-shattering. I kept thinking of Nathaniel Hawthorne and his continued allusions to secret sin and hidden guilt as I read A Far Flung Life.

What's Matt's secret? What happens to Rosie? What is Miles hiding, and why is Pete Peachey such a loner? How do we live with the monumental burdens of secrets too big to be acknowledged?

Which of their secrets would be healing to release, and which would be harmful for others to know?

Read this book to find out!

M. L. Stedman

M. L. Stedman is well-known for her 2013 release of The Light Between Oceans which became a bestselling novel with over 5 million copies purchased worldwide, translated into 45 languages, and made into a blockbuster film in 2016.

Living in London, Stedman is a former attorney who was raised in Western Australia. While she's notably reclusive and private about her personal life, sources report that she is living, or has lived, in London.

The book art of The Light Between Oceans escaped my memory, but I fell in love with the cover of A Far Flung Life. There's a reason the publisher designed the book cover the way they did. Note the similarities!

A Far Flung Life is worth the thirteen-year wait!

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