* INSTANT NATIONAL BESTSELLER * Amazon Editors’ Pick for Best Book of the Year in Fiction “Visceral and haunting” (New York Times Book Review) · “Hopeful” (Washington Post) · “Powerful” (Los Angeles Times) · “Thrilling” (TIME) · “Tantalizingly beautiful” (Elle) · “Suspenseful, atmospheric” (Vogue) · “Aching and poignant” (Guardian) · “Gripping” (The Economist) Franny Stone has always been … poignant” (Guardian) · “Gripping” (The Economist)
Franny Stone has always been the kind of woman who is able to love but unable to stay. Leaving behind everything but her research gear, she arrives in Greenland with a singular purpose: to follow the last Arctic terns in the world on what might be their final migration to Antarctica. Franny talks her way onto a fishing boat, and she and the crew set sail, traveling ever further from shore and safety. But as Franny’s history begins to unspool–a passionate love affair, an absent family, a devastating crime–it becomes clear that she is chasing more than just the birds. When Franny’s dark secrets catch up with her, how much is she willing to risk for one more chance at redemption?
Epic and intimate, heartbreaking and galvanizing, Charlotte McConaghy’s Migrations is an ode to a disappearing world and a breathtaking page-turner about the possibility of hope against all odds.
more
Migrations
Charlotte McConaghy
Charlotte McConaghy writes a very special story about young Franny Stone who talks herself into a boat to Greenland to track the last Arctic terns as they make their globe spanning migration from the Arctic to the Antarctic. A beautiful story about out connection with nature and the environment and the reality of a world that is in serious danger if we all do not protect the world we live in. The writing of Franny’s character is absolutely amazing and one character that will be a favorite of mine for many years to come. While reading this book, I was completely transported to parts of this world I will probably never get to see in my lifetime.
I enjoyed the writing and the parallels between what is happening in nature and the inner turmoil of Franny’s life, her relationships. A story full of grief, loneliness, and eventually a moving journey for all.
I really enjoyed this one a lot.
This is an important book. No easy answers, but provocative questions about our world.
Review coming soon!
A beautifully written debut novel set in the very near future where a woman with a dark past follows the world’s last flock of Arctic terns on their final migration south.
…
…to escape into the cold open ocean where your eyes are pulled upward and your heart split open from the impacts of climate change, extinction, and loss. It calls on us to look beyond ourselves to the fragility of the natural world.
• Atmospheric
• Chilling
• Hopeful
• Unpredictable
Set in the near future where nearly all species are extinct, Fanny Stone is a broken woman who has wandered aimlessly through her life. The only thing that brings her peace is watching birds flying free over the ocean. When she finds that “her” birds are at the point of no return on the extinction ladder, she decides to follow the Artic Tern to their final destination, but first, she must find the last flock. She travels to Greenland where she convinces a ship’s captain, Ennis Malone, to take her on board his ship and follow the flock’s migration south. McConaghy explores one woman’s obsession for with finding birds before they, too, are extinct and what it means to the human race responsible for destroying Earth.
Charlotte McConaghy has written a powerful story of obsession, love, loss, grief, and redemption wrapped up in climate change and animal extinction. Her writing is, at times, lyrical. Her secondary characters are complex, and her main character is believable as she struggles to find purpose in her life while hoarding her secrets. The unexpected ending makes sense, but McConaghy has one more surprise for her readers.
My thanks to Flatiron Books and Edelweiss for an eARC.
“My life has been a migration without a destination, and that in itself is senseless.”
This book. I don’t even know how to describe it. I couldn’t put it down even though I dreaded what might come next. It dragged me through every emotion and left me breathless. I still can’t stop thinking about it days after finishing.
Here’s a blurb from the publisher that explains the plot better than I can:
Franny Stone has always been a wanderer. By following the ocean’s tides and the birds that soar above, she can forget the losses that have haunted her life. But when the wild she so loves begins to disappear, Franny can no longer wander without a destination. She arrives in remote Greenland with one purpose: to find the world’s last flock of Arctic terns and follow them on their final migration for her own final chance at redemption.
I know what you’re thinking – Arctic terns? But McConaghy’s writing is smart and lyrical – she infuses beauty into even the darkest moments and damn if those birds and Franny’s journey don’t become a metaphor for everything going on in the world today. In describing the terns’ amazing journey from the North Pole to Antarctica, Franny muses “It seems to me, suddenly, that if it’s the end, really and truly, if you’re making the last migration not just of your life but of your entire species, you don’t stop sooner. Even when you’re tired and starved and hopeless. You go farther.” Maybe it was reading this book during Covid and the unrest going on in our country right now but I teared up. And then I got angry because she’s right – when our lives and our world (both literally and figuratively) are at stake, we need to do more and do better.
This novel will change you. I put it into a category with A Little Life and Station Eleven, other stories that shook me to the core and haunt me years later. They’re not books I say I liked – that word is too frivolous for what they made me feel – but that I always recommend. Migrations won’t be for everyone – its melancholy may be too much for a lot of people, especially now – but for those it resonates with, it will touch them forever.
Thank you to NetGalley, Flatiron Books and the author for an advanced e-copy to review.
Migrations by Charlotte Mcconaghy was my first book that I have read from this author. This is such a hard book for me to review, I truly do not enjoy books that jump back and forward sometimes years and this book was constantly doing it. For me that takes a lot of the enjoyment out of a read, having said that overall I found the book a touching one. At times its was heart wrenching, so emotional I wanted to cry, at times it was dark and depressing and at other times it gave me hope. It was a unique read in its on special way. Although I didn’t enjoy it, I always suggest that others read a book for themself and make their own opinions because not everyone enjoys the same books
I received an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher Flatiron Books, all opinions expressed here are my own.
What an amazing book. In some ways, Migrations reads like a travel guide. Beautiful descriptions of nature and so many details about birds. Journeys to Greenland, the Irish coast, the Australian outback, and everywhere in between. Harsh climates and conditions. The peril of endangered species of animals all over the world. The role of the humans in the world in bringing about this danger.
And on that human side – Franny isn’t sure where she belongs, or that she deserves to belong anywhere. She loves deeply and forever, but has never been able to stay in one place to nurture that love. She’s obsessed with following the birds on their final migration, saving the birds, if they can even be saved. She’s suffered and lost so much, and as we continue the journey with her we start to suspect that she’s on a voyage with a secret purpose, and she’s not revealing the secret.
Migrations is beautifully written and an amazing debut novel by author Charlotte McConaghy. The words flow. The environment changes and you are in the midst of it, cold, tired, hurting, regretting. The characters are elusive and puzzling and entice you to read on.
The story is haunting, almost other-worldly, told in a time where animals are disappearing at a pace we can’t yet imagine. Or don’t want to acknowledge. Franny’s story is told through her current journey on the fishing boat, her letters, her past time with her husband, her childhood. And embedded in this is somehow a warring sense of hope and doom. Franny presents herself as a failure, destined to always fail, but her conviction is so strong you want to believe she will succeed in her quest for – for what?
Once I started Migrations: A Novel I couldn’t put it down. The characters were well-developed and engaging, and I felt as if the fate of the world at times hung in the balance. Thanks to Flatiron Books and NetGalley for providing an advance copy for my reading pleasure and honest review. This was a welcome and thoroughly enjoyable departure from the usual psychological thrillers or cozies. All opinions are my own. I recommend this book without hesitation.
Migrations…I was unsure when starting to read this story how far it would take me. Most all wildlife, birds and fish are extinct in our world. The story jumps back and forth from present to past, building a story of love, extreme sadness and strength to carry on the mission of following migration of the Arctic Terns (one of the last birds on earth) along with her own life. The lives lost, the unlikely friends and enemies found and the never ending battle to live or die. As I continued reading, I grew to know Franny Stone began a little more and understand the why of this never ending drive, until the end, then I cried. Thank you Charlotte.
Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy is an excellent, complex, and multi-layered fictional novel that pulls at emotions and heart-strings and grips a reader from beginning to end.
The reader is presented with seemingly two separate plots, one the mystery of Franny the main female character that has a complicated and harrowing past and second with the quest to find and follow the last group of Arctic terns. These two subjects actually have very much in common. The reader slowly is exposed and unraveled into Franny’s past, history, and path that led her to this journey. We see all that has been, what has been lost, and what sacrifices and changes have occurred secondary to these events. The same is the plot concerning extinction, habitat destruction , climate change, and permanent loss and alteration to the precious wildlife that has left us and what has remained. Both events moving simultaneously and helplessly forward. But yet, the author inserts a slim ray of hope, possibilities opening. Do we chose to alter our path and overcome obstacles, or do we sit back and let the darkness and damage overcome?
Very heavy stuff for such a slim book. The literary picture of the landscapes and emotions presented was beautiful, yet hard to read. The author had a mighty job presenting these concepts without overwhelming the reader, and I thought it was successful. (That is just my take on the story.)
I enjoyed this book and at the same time worry even more about how our species is permanently changing and destroying our world. It is a wake up call to those that think it can be set aside for future generations. The time to love ourselves, our families, each other, and our world is now.
5/5 stars
Thank you NetGalley and Flatiron Books for this ARC and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion.