Wow! I just finished Migrations and I don't even know what to say about it. I love how it was written with bits of Franny's tragic past revealed just a little at a time, mixed in with the present-day story. On the other hand it probably wasn't the best book for me to read right now because it was just so unbelievably sad! 😭 It takes place in a world where pretty much all wild animals are endangered if not already extinct. All the characters were interesting but it was frustrating at times watching Franny's self-destructive and irrational behavior. I wish more of what happened with the Saghani's crew at the end was revealed, but I did like the ending. Now I need to go read something light and fluffy to recover from this one!

If you haven't discovered Charlotte McConaghy's books yet you're missing out. This may be a short book but it doesn't read like one. She has packed so much depth and feeling that you don't feel like anything is missing. It's the most beautiful and emotional book I have read this year. She's a phenomenal writer and this is her best book yet. I wanted to burrow myself into this book and live here for a while. I savored her writing and lived in Franny's world for a short while. An undeniable must read. Happy reading!

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.

"Once, it was birds who gave birth to a fiercer me."

Charlotte McConaghy writes the most heart wrenching journey and invites the reader along...and I did not want it to end. It wasn't so much the task of following the Arctic Tern's migration that I didn't want to end, it was the gorgeous and devastating writing. This book assaulted my emotions, but I would do it again. I underlined nearly the entire book because of its beauty, then threw the book across the room and screamed into my pillow, and upon finishing I stared at the wall for an unreasonable amount of time in a mixture of grief and "holy crap that last line was so perfect" wonder.

I'm going to be completely honest when I say I almost didn't read this ARC when I received it. I read the synopsis and thought wow, cool.... following some birds flying. I couldn't have been more wrong. Narrated with a sequence of flashbacks, there is a whole lot more packed into this novel than just following some birds. This book dives into themes of environmental conservation, loneliness, self discovery, suicide, death, forgiveness, friendship, love, marriage and on.

Hands down, one of my favorite works of literary fiction to date. I want to buy an entire stock of this novel to hand out to family, friends and strangers. I feel the need to shout from the rooftops (or the internet) YOU HAVE TO READ THIS GORGEOUS BOOK!!

Franny Stone was never able to stay in one place for very long. Even as a child, she yearned to fly free just like the birds of her dreams. Maybe, it was the pain of being abandoned by her mother or perhaps it was the cold indifference she was shown by the grandmother who raised her, she only knew she never wanted to stop running. Until the day that she met Professor Niall Lynch.

She would secretly watch him give impassioned lectures that detailed the devastation that humans so cruelly caused the Earth’s wildlife from the very back of the auditorium. And she couldn’t stop thinking that he was the most enchanting creature that she had ever encountered.

It should have been impossible for the talented professor to fall in love with the simple girl. All it really took was one kiss in a greenhouse and she knew whatever heart she had belonged only to Niall. Building a life together calmed her restless soul for a time. But the peace that she found disappeared just like his beloved Arctic terns.

All that Franny’s left with is her soul crushing guilt and her dreams of death. With the help of the crew aboard the Saghani, she has one last journey to make. A journey to fulfill a promise and to keep the precious birds from disappearing forever.

“But there won’t be any more journeys after this one, no more oceans explored. And maybe that’s why I am filled with calm. My life has been a migration without a destination, and that in itself is senseless. I leave for no reason, just to be moving, and it breaks my heart a thousand times, a million. It’s a relief to at last have a purpose. I wonder what it will feel like to stop. I wonder where we go, afterward, and if we are followed. I suspect we go nowhere, and become nothing, and the only thing that saddens me about this is the idea of never seeing Niall again. We are, all of us, given such a brief moment of time together, it hardly seems fair. But it’s precious, and maybe it’s enough, and maybe it’s right that our bodies dissolve into the earth, giving our energy back to it, feeding the little creatures in the ground and giving nutrients to the soil, and maybe it’s right that our consciousness rests. The thought is peaceful.”

In Migrations, Charlotte McConaghy lays down an emotionally savage landscape upon where all the Earth’s wildlife is on the very edge of extinction and a lonely girl searches for redemption.

Franny is a character that is utterly fragile despite her fiercely independent veneer. The heartache that she endures throughout her life seems almost unbearable at times and it’s chilling to watch her unravel right along with the story. But it’s her longing for love and her regret that touched my heart the most.

When all of this is combined with Charlotte’s compelling and atmospheric prose, the result is a story that is so tragically gorgeous that it will be etched in my mind for years to come…

“Because 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.”

Follow the final migration of the arctic tern on a journey of a lifetime!
Franny has always felt like she was born in the wrong body, that she should have been a bird, and she is drawn to the ocean. She is determined to follow the arctic tern on what is expected to be their final migration before extinction. (These birds have the longest migration of any animal, from the arctic to the antarctic and back, every year, over an average lifespan of 30 years.) She carries a dark past and a hidden purpose as she stops at nothing to achieve her goal.
Charlotte McConaghy transports the reader on a beautiful yet heartbreaking adventure, slowly unraveling Franny's past as she drives us to ultimate closure. I found myself pausing often to take in the totality of scenes and the protagonist's history melting into the present. Yes, there are clear messages of environmental tragedy woven throughout the book, but it is so much more. As readers we find we are not only witnessing a final migration of birds and all that that means, but also the migration of the principal character, who is free like the birds, but heavy with a past she needs to face and rise above. I am so glad I picked this book up, so beautifully written....one of my favorite reads of the year.

I will leave a review on Amazon or B&N on Aug 4, 202

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.

This was a haunting and atmospheric novel about Franny Stone, who goes on a harrowing journey to Greenland to track birds in the vast ocean. There is more than meets the eye with Franny, as she suffers from night terrors that haunt her in her sleep. Franny is not alone. She embarks on this journey with Saghani, an eccentric captain, as well as a crew that similarly suffers from past demons.

This story was unique and instantly grabbed my attention. It is extremely well-written and a highly emotional read. I applaud the author for her masterful story-telling as well as well-crafted characters, I love that this beautiful novel spotlighted the environment and all of the beauty that it beholds. It also highlights our need to protect the world around us, as many aspects of our natural world are slowly disappearing.

Thank you to Flatiron Books and NetGalley for this e-ARC. All opinions are my own.

"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 is truly one of the most gut wrenching heart breaking yet hopeful books I have ever read.

Franny Stone suffers from severe wanderlust or perhaps bi polar disease but either way she is always searching for something. This story opens with her search for the last flock of Artic terns who migrate on the longest journey in search of food. In this story all of wild life is virtually extinct and the terns probably won't survive this journey because there is no fish left for them to find.

As Franny follows the birds we follow her back to the past that brought her out to the middle of Greenland. Her story literally made my heart ache. Abandoned as a child she has been searching for family, good or bad, just one person to let her know she belongs here on Earth.

Franny's life journey leads to love, unfathomable sorrow and a soul breaking awakening. I have never read a book that made me so angry and annoyed with the main character while at the same time needing to hold her and tell her she is loved and she matters to me. Because Franny should matter to everyone.

We all have had periods of feeling lost and hopeless. Many are feeling it now with this awful pandemic. As much as Franny fights her life and self sabotages her happiness she never really gives up the search for her place in this world.

This book tore me apart. The author writes with such vivid emotion. I felt every pain, every shock, every bit of sadness in Franny's bones. I also felt the bitter cold of the Artic, the beauty of birds in flight and the vastness of the sea. I was emotionally exhausted as though Franny's journey was my own at the end of her story. An outstanding accomplishment for this gifted writer.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

I saw that the marketing campaign for this book comparing it to works of Emily St. John Mandel, whose work I enjoy. However, I found that this book has more in common with The Road by Cormac McCarthy than Station Eleven.

At times, the plot seemed to have no direction which made it hard to stay interested. Also, while a book does not need to have likeable characters, these characters were immensely irritating. However, this book does create nice imagery involving nature and birds.

I am grateful for receiving an ARC of this book and it comes out on August, 4th

Migrations is the kind of story that will stay with me for a very long time. Written in a beautiful prose, this book left me truly emotional and affected by its symbolism and thought-provoking plot. This novel reminds the reader of how closely humans are bound to the nature, and how by destroying the world around us not only we are depriving ourselves of the future but we are also destroying our own soul and spirit.

Heart-wrenching, raw, atmospheric, and provocative, Migrations is a must read for everyone!

Thank you NetGalley, Flatiron Books, and the author for providing me with an ARC copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

I found this book to be devastatingly beautiful. It's vivid depictions of nature and the destruction of our planet's animal life was a harsh glimpse at the future. I liked the mystery element of slowly unraveling her past it made the book heart-wrenching at times while feeling deeply personal. This was a beautiful book.

MIGRATIONS is set in the near-future, when climate change, habitat destruction, and unsustainable practices have wiped out most of the wild species on earth. Franny Stone’s mission is to track the final migration of the last Arctic terns from Greenland to Antarctica. Franny convinces the captain of the fishing boat Saghani to let her sail along with them and follow the birds, convincing him that the terns with lead them to fish, a rarity.

Franny is chasing the birds, but clearly she’s chasing or running away from something else. Unfortunately, I just did not like Franny and had a hard time sympathizing with her. Maybe it’s because it took so long for her secrets to be revealed? I got tired of the back and forth to numerous times in her past. Overall her character came across as flat. I found her husband and the crew of the fishing boat more interesting.

I enjoyed the author’s beautiful prose, and her world-building was convincing. The world she has created is terrifying, and it could easily be a reality if we let our current environmental practices continue. I’m going with 2.75 stars for MIGRATIONS. It’s a haunting, cautionary tale, for certain. I didn’t enjoy it as much as I thought I would, though I’ve read many stellar reviews from others. Please read and decide for yourself.

Migrations is a poignant and wrenching story of loss, both on a personal and global scale. Seemingly using the human impact on the environment as a larger metaphor, McConaghy expertly addresses the protagonist Franny's journey through her own grief. Written through a series of present moments and flashacks, Migrations introduces complicated characters that are intensely human in their flaws, but are so well-developed that that reader continues to root for them until the end. There is a rawness to the story that at times makes it difficult to read, but has a haunting quality that is also irresistible.

I received a copy of Migrations through Netgalley for an honest review. My thanks to Flatiron Books and to Charlotte McConaghy for the opportunity.

Emily St. John Mandel blurbed this book, so like, I had to read it. I don't make the rules.

Woof. Where to begin. This book is stunning. I read it cover to cover in a day. It's The Perfect Storm meets After the Flood. I don't want to say too much about the plot because I think it's better that way, but the story focuses on a none too distant future where humans have laid waste to the planet, leading to a major ecological disaster. In it, a young woman is determined to follow the final migration of a dying species of birds, against all reason and logic. This book is beautiful in the way it navigates both emotional and ethical distress. It explores the paradox of needing human connection and desiring freedom. It grapples with what it's like to feel too much, to CARE when the world around you has resigned itself to apathy. I'm sure that doesn't hit home for any of us. Nope. I'm sure it shocks no one that I'm not outdoorsy but the descriptions of nature and birds in this book make me want to be. The reverence for it is palpable. There's romance, there's adventure, the pacing is *chef's kiss*...in case it wasn't clear, Migrations is out August 4th, and you should read it.

Thanks to @flatiron_books for sending a copy my way, along with a super cute coloring page!

TW: death by suicide, stillbirth, and car accident

I’m in the small minority who did not like this book. I found it plodding and filled with characters to whom I could not relate. I recognize the high quality of the writing and am glad that so many others can appreciate what I clearly could not.

A dark and melancholy book that feels like a perfect fit for our current times. I found I needed to read this book more slowly than most to absorb the beauty of the language and its wonderful atmospheric qualities, but still found the plot highly compelling.

Migrations is a reader’s read, a literary accomplishment. The story mirrors exactly as the title states. The last migration of the last living birds sometime in the future. The book takes place in a time when all animals have become extinct, with only a few fish left in the oceans and a flock of little birds called Terns. It was the protagonist’s goal to follow the terns on their final migration across the globe.

Franny is an incredibly unreliable character, a wanderer and cannot stay in one place for too long. It is through letters to her husband that we begin to crack open her vault of secrets. There is a lot of heartbreak, love and loss that have changed her as a person. Her and her husband’s love story is fast and deep. They both had an undying love for nature, oceans and birds. They thrived on it. As a gift to her husband, she will follow the terns to see that they arrive safely to their last migration in Antarctica.

After swindling her way onto a fishing vessel, she encounters her crewmates, who at first seem like a bawdy group of fishermen, yet each have incredible backstories that were important to the story. Although this book isn’t a book you’ll fly through, the language and thought processes of Franny are incredible. The scenes on the rough sea makes the popular show, The Deadliest Catch, come to life.

This book is an ode to the written word, climate change and the study of birds.

I honestly enjoyed this book and was surprised by the positive experience. Reading about the topic my first reaction was that it wouldn't be for me. Following migrating birds on a fishing boat? Thought I would start it but wouldn't finish. Turned out to be really enjoyable. The characters were well developed and I wanted to hear their stories and see how things would turn out for them. I recommend it.