A Far-flung Life by M L Stedman **Signed Independent Bookshop Exclusive Edition**

***Published – 5th March 2026***

Outback Western Australia, 1958: for generations, the MacBrides have lived on a remote sheep station, Meredith Downs. A million arid acres, it’s an ocean of land, where the weather is a capricious god, and time still roams untamed.

One 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. Then, instead of leaving wounds to heal, Fate comes for them yet again, 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.

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. A Far-flung Life explores the lives of a handful of isolated souls and the secrets they shield in order to survive. A tale of family and belonging, of compassion and hope, it’s about people trying to do their best, and each, for private reasons, seeking shelter from the storm of life.

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