Two novels about families, one set in Australia and one in London and Florence.
A Far-Flung Life ML Stedman (2026) The sunsets can be gorgeous, but daily living can be austere on a sheep station at the edge of the desert in Western Australia, especially back in 1958, when this novel opens. The MacBrides have toughed it out for generations—and built a good family life—when a terrible accident sends them spiraling into despair. Stedman documents the repercussions up through the new millennium. Like Stedman’s previous novel set in Australia, The Light Between Oceans (reviewed here), this one tips somewhat toward melodrama, with odd coincidences and misunderstandings driving the plot. But the characters are convincing and the story is propulsive. Keep the internet handy to look up some of that Aussie vocabulary and then enjoy the ride.
Still Life Sarah Winman (2021) In this 450-page love letter to Florence, Italy, Sarah Winman evokes that city’s Renaissance past, especially art in all forms. And she shows how love between people can be manifest in many forms. Ulysses Temper, a British soldier in World War II, is central to the ensemble cast of family and friends who move through much of the twentieth century (1944-1979, plus a long flashback to 1901), crossing repeatedly from London to Florence and back. There’s some magic realism (a highly verbose parrot, a series of successful wagers based on dreams) as well as the appearance of the novelist EM Forster in his youth. The opening dialogue segment is somewhat bewildering, but get past that to relish this novel. I’ve also reviewed Winman’s novel Tin Man here.