Migrations, by Charlotte McConaghy, is a realistic fiction novel and is a tribute to the disappearing natural world.
Franny Stone has been running her whole life. She has been running from her past and her fears but now she runs towards something. Franny arrives in Greenland with a single mission: to find the world's last flock of Arctic terns before their final migration. She convinces a fisherman and his crew to take her on his ship but as they start their voyage, the ship members realize that Franny has secrets. When her story begins to come out, they start to wonder about how much of her story is true and what she is really trying to find.
Migrations is a powerful book. Franny, the narrator, is fierce and the supporting characters each have enough of a role to make them sympathetic. The story progresses logically and is never disinteresting. When I started the novel, I was off put by the title but Migrations is a story more than that of mere birds. It is a tribute to the dying natural world and it demonstrates how far people will go for their loved ones. The most captivating aspect of Migrations is that, unlike many novels about climate change, it is not condescending. Rather, it is hopeful. The world in Migrations, despite the absence of many living things, is active and fierce, much like the main character.