Migrations, Charlotte McConaghy, Flatiron Books, 2020, 256 pp
This is the best novel I have read so far in 2021. The big idea behind the story is climate change. Set in the future, Earth's oceans are fished out, wild animals have all but disappeared, insects and birds are dwindling rapidly.
The culprits in all this demise are humans. Unless we can change our ways we will ourselves follow since we have decimated the very elements needed to survive. Thus it must be humans who populate the story.
Charlotte McConaghy had already published three sci fi/fantasy series in Australia prior to this international debut. She knows how to create awesome female characters so it is no surprise that Franny Stone, damaged and nearly broken, is also the heroine who drives this epic tale.
Able to love but unable to stay, her search for a way to heal the earth takes her on a journey to track the last Arctic Terns on their migration from Greenland to Antarctica. She finagles her way onto a fishing boat and then convinces its equally damaged and broken captain to take that journey. The opening chapter where Franny meets the captain and his crew is so gripping, I wondered where the author could go after that.
The answer is everywhere, from Ireland to Australia, on the high seas and into the human heart. All the while the mystery of Franny is gradually revealed. When a person has nothing more to lose, when she must engineer her own redemption, there are no limits to her daring.
The writing is at once cinematic and intensely personal. Never does the pace falter. On every page, I wanted desperately to know how the book would end. When it did, I wanted it to go on. I wanted to stay with Franny forever.
Wow! Added to my future reading list....
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear that...
DeleteI'm puting this book in myt tbr list right now. I'm up for a story that talks about climate change and a female character that seeks to heal earth. Great review
ReplyDeleteGreat and thank you, Victoria.
DeleteI will mark this one down.
ReplyDeleteI would love to know what you think of this one if you read it!
DeleteI am on the waiting list for it at the library.
DeleteWhat a magnificent review! You do justice to a magnificent book.
ReplyDeleteDorothy, you have made my day. It was my hope to do justice without telling too much.
DeleteBrilliant review, Judy. I think I would love this book.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Marianne. I know you would!
DeleteI had the feeling you were going to love this one. So so good, also in audio!
ReplyDeleteIn case your readers are interested, I inserted in my review a picture of the Arctic tern and of its most amazing migration routes: https://wordsandpeace.com/2020/07/31/book-review-migrations/
You were the first of the bloggers I follow to review it. That is a gorgeous photo of the tern.
Deletethis sounds like enchantment! hard to find books that do that! actually, tho (from a geological perspective) the earth will recover quite nicely in just several million years, when all the humans are gone. in the past there's been a CO2 atmosphere more than once, not to mention ice ages and meteoric and volcanic events that have slain more than 90% of species... humans are just a blip in the ongoing process that governs planetary evolution... look at a map of continental drift: it might lend a different pov on what we think of as reality, haha...
ReplyDeleteI know about those earlier geological ages and I don't worry about the earth's recovery. I do feel though that humans are not all just greedy and ignorant. I feel there is still a chance for human life to exist on earth in harmony with the natural world. If we don't we will surely be gone before too long, in terms of geological ages, that is.
DeleteFabulous review! You know you've read a great book when you do not want it to end.
ReplyDeleteSo true.
DeleteThis sounds so good, I’m adding it my list!
ReplyDeleteI am quite sure you will love it!
DeleteJudy, I just started listening to the audio today and I love this story thus far - wonderful narrator as well - can't wait to find out more. Glad you loved it and thanks for not giving too much away.
ReplyDeleteThat is great, Diane! Thanks for thanking me for not giving too much away. It was hard writing the review for that reason but I just want anyone who hasn't read it yet to discover it on their own.
DeleteYeah this one had some very sad elements to it but it gripped me from beginning to end. Very visual. I look forward to her next novel about Wolves! Well done review.
ReplyDeleteOoh, I did not know she has a next one coming. I'll read it for sure.
DeleteFabulous review, Judy. Sounds quite breathtaking.
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness, breathtaking and sometimes breath stopping!
DeleteJust finished the book, Judy. It is all you say and more. Fabulous!!
ReplyDeleteSo happy you loved it too!
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