MIGRATIONS

by Charlotte McConaghy

Migrations is one of those rare novels that has stayed with me long after I finished reading it.  McConaghy has written a totally original and compelling adventure tale filled with memorable characters driven by the universal human emotions of love, regret, ambition and compassion.  

Franny Stone, the novel’s protagonist, is driven to track the endangered bird the Artic tern as it migrates from its departure point in remote Greenland to its final destination at the South Pole.  Franny stuggles to cope with her failed marriage and a lost child and somehow this obsession to track the terns’ final migration becomes a tribute to her husband and child.  As McConaghy tells Franny’s captivating tale of talking her way onto a fishing boat and all the adventures that ensue, she artfully weaves in a startling number of interesting facts about Arctic terns.  I became so caught up in her quest that I started to share that desperation for the species to avoid extinction. 

It is McConaghy’s success in weaving together an engrossing story with real facts about the birds which has led reviewers to compare Migrations to Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver -- also an amazing read that I highly recommend.  Migrations also brings to mind Lab Girl by Hope Jahren (reviewed here), which beautifully intersperses a fictional story with facts about paleobotany. If you want to be sucked into an engrossing read while learning about a bird species in danger of extinction, I highly recommend Migrations. (Liz)