Author:Charlotte McConaghy
'An extraordinary novel... as beautiful and as wrenching as anything I've ever read' Emily St. John Mandel
A dark past. An impossible journey. The will to survive.
Franny Stone is determined to go to the end of the earth, following the last of the Arctic terns on what may be their final migration to Antarctica.
As animal populations plummet, Franny talks her way onto one of the few remaining boats heading south. But as she and the eccentric crew travel further from shore and safety, the dark secrets of Franny's life begin to unspool.
Haunted by love and violence, Franny must confront what she is really running towards - and from.
From the west coast of Ireland to Australia and remote Greenland, this is an ode to the wild places and creatures now threatened, and an epic, moving story of the possibility of hope against all odds.
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READERS LOVE MIGRATIONS:
'Wrenchingly beautiful'
'Visceral, heart-breaking'
'Simply phenomenal'
'Raw and gripping'
'Riveting'
'Here's your next favourite'
'A story...about love, passion, wandering'
*Previously published as The Last Migration*
Compulsive stuff, driven at a cracking pace by the power of the elements and the fierce will of its single-minded narrator
—— Stephanie Cross, Daily MailThe Last Migration is as beautiful and as wrenching as anything I've ever read. This is an extraordinary novel by a wildly talented writer
—— Emily St. John Mandel, author of Station ElevenThere's a brooding lushness to this novel's prose that belies its stark premise... this keening lament of an adventure is compelling
—— Hephzibah Anderson, ObserverAn adventure of a wilder sort
—— Vogue, USA fascinating hybrid of nature writing and dystopian fiction... gripping... by merging cli-fi and nature writing, the novel powerfully demonstrates the spiritual and emotional costs of environmental destruction
—— EconomistThe Last Migration is a wonder. I read it in a gasp. There is hope in these pages; a balm for these troubled times. McConaghy's words cut through to the bone
—— Lara Prescott, author of The Secrets We KeptI'm a sucker for a complicated narrator, and Franny Stone might be the queen of them all. In this tantalizingly beautiful epic, Franny's life has been marked by secrets and loss, and so she turns to where she cannot reach: the skies
—— Elle, USGripping, tender and beautifully done. This novel is as intimate as it is urgent-you emerge thrilled and dazed, but also galvanized to save the planet
—— Anna Funder, author of StasilandVisceral and haunting...This novel's prose soars with its transporting descriptions of the planet's landscapes and their dwindling inhabitants, and contains many wonderful meditations on our responsibilities to our earthly housemates...The Last Migration is a nervy and well-crafted novel, one that lingers long after its voyage is over
—— New York Times Book ReviewDreamy, elegiac... both an adventure story and a piece of speculative climate fiction, constantly slipping between a kind of literary realism and more magical elements, between moments of domestic drama and sweeping epic... an aching and poignant book, and one that's pressing in its timeliness... It's also a book about love, about trying to understand and accept the creatureliness that exists within our selves, and what it means to be a human animal, that we might better accommodate our own wildness within the world
—— Guardian, AustraliaGutting and gorgeous, The Last Migration is an astounding meditation on love, trauma, and the cost of survival. With soulful prose and deep empathy, Charlotte McConaghy weaves parallel stories of a woman and a world on the brink of devastation, but never without hope. Equal parts love letter and dirge, this is a true force of a book that I read holding my breath from its start to its symphonic finish - Julia Fine, author of What Should Be Wild
At a time when it feels like we're at the end of the world, this novel about a different kind of end of the world serves as both catharsis and escape
This novel is enchanting, but not in some safe, fairy-tale sense. Charlotte McConaghy has harnessed the rough magic that sears our souls. I recommend The Last Migration with my whole heart - Geraldine Brooks, Author of March
Powerful...Vibrant...Unique... If worry is the staple emotion that most climate fiction evokes in its readers, The Last Migration - the novelistic equivalent of an energizing cold plunge - flutters off into more expansive territory
How far do we have to go to escape our pasts and find ourselves? Charlotte McConaghy's luminous, brilliant novel, set in a future when wildlife is rapidly becoming extinct, is indeed about loss-but what makes it miraculous is that it is also about both the glimpses of hope and the shattering persistence of love, if we are only brave enough to acknowledge them. Written in prose as gorgeous as the crystalline beauty of the Arctic, The Last Migration is deeply moving, haunting, and, yes, important
—— Caroline Leavitt, author of Pictures of YouA gutting portrait of a woman worn down by a world she never quite fit into
—— TIMEA lovely, haunting novel about a troubled woman's quest to follow the last surviving Arctic terns on their southerly migration. As she tries to make peace with the ghosts of her painful past, she must choose whether she herself wants - or deserves - to survive, in spite of everything she, and all humans, have destroyed and lost
—— Ceridwen Dovey, author of In the Garden of the FugitivesBeautifully haunting... Spanning oceans and decades, Franny's physical and emotional journeys are at times devastating and, at others, surprisingly, undeniably hopeful... Brimming with stunning imagery and raw emotion, The Last Migration is the incredible story of personal redemption, self-forgiveness and hope for the future in the face of a world on the brink of collapse
—— Jennifer Oleinik, Shelf AwarenessTransfixing, gorgeously precise...[The] evocation of a world bereft of wildlife is piercing; Franny's otherworldliness is captivating; and her misadventures and anguished secrets are gripping
—— BooklistTrue and affecting, elegiac and imminent...The fractured timeline fills each chapter with suspense and surprises, parceled out so tantalizingly that it took disciplined willpower to keep from skipping down each page to see what happens... Franny charts our course through a novel that is efficient and exciting, indicting but forgiving, and hard but ultimately hopeful
—— Washington PostGorgeous...A personal reckoning that cuts right to the heart. This beautiful novel is an ode-if not an elegy-to an endangered planet and the people and places we love
—— Literary HubA good nautical adventure...The Last Migration moves at a fast, exciting clip, motored as much by love for 'creatures that aren't human' as by outrage at their destruction
—— The Wall Street JournalAn ode to our disappearing natural world
—— NewsweekYou can practically hear the glaciers cracking to pieces and the shrill yelps of the circling terns
—— VultureThere's a brooding lushness to this novel's prose that belies its stark premise... this keening lament of an adventure is compelling.
—— Hephzibah Anderson , ObserverA fascinating hybrid of nature writing and dystopian fiction... gripping... by merging cli-fi and nature writing, the novel powerfully demonstrates the spiritual and emotional costs of environmental destruction
—— The EconomistI’m a sucker for a complicated narrator, and Franny Stone might be the queen of them all. In this tantalizingly beautiful epic, Franny’s life has been marked by secrets and loss, and so she turns to where she cannot reach: the skies
—— Lauren Puckett , Elle USGripping, tender and beautifully done. This novel is as intimate as it is urgent—you emerge thrilled and dazed, but also galvanized to save the planet
—— Anna Funder, author of StasilandVisceral and haunting...This novel's prose soars with its transporting descriptions of the planet's landscapes and their dwindling inhabitants, and contains many wonderful meditations on our responsibilities to our earthly housemates...The Last Migration is a nervy and well-crafted novel, one that lingers long after its voyage is over
—— The New York Times Book ReviewDreamy, elegiac... both an adventure story and a piece of speculative climate fiction, constantly slipping between a kind of literary realism and more magical elements, between moments of domestic drama and sweeping epic... an aching and poignant book, and one that's pressing in its timeliness... It's also a book about love, about trying to understand and accept the creatureliness that exists within our selves, and what it means to be a human animal, that we might better accommodate our own wildness within the world.
—— Fiona Wright , Guardian AustraliaGutting and gorgeous, The Last Migration is an astounding meditation on love, trauma, and the cost of survival. With soulful prose and deep empathy, Charlotte McConaghy weaves parallel stories of a woman and a world on the brink of devastation, but never without hope. Equal parts love letter and dirge, this is a true force of a book that I read holding my breath from its start to its symphonic finish
—— Julia Fine, author of What Should Be WildAt a time when it feels like we're at the end of the world, this novel about a different kind of end of the world serves as both catharsis and escape
—— Harper's Bazaar USThis novel is enchanting, but not in some safe, fairy-tale sense. Charlotte McConaghy has harnessed the rough magic that sears our souls. I recommend The Last Migration with my whole heart
—— Geraldine Brooks, Author of MarchPowerful...Vibrant...Unique... If worry is the staple emotion that most climate fiction evokes in its readers, The Last Migration - the novelistic equivalent of an energizing cold plunge - flutters off into more expansive territory
—— Los Angeles TimesHow far do we have to go to escape our pasts and find ourselves? Charlotte McConaghy’s luminous, brilliant novel, set in a future when wildlife is rapidly becoming extinct, is indeed about loss—but what makes it miraculous is that it is also about both the glimpses of hope and the shattering persistence of love, if we are only brave enough to acknowledge them. Written in prose as gorgeous as the crystalline beauty of the Arctic, The Last Migration is deeply moving, haunting, and, yes, important
—— Caroline Leavitt, author of Pictures of YouA lovely, haunting novel about a troubled woman’s quest to follow the last surviving Arctic terns on their southerly migration. As she tries to make peace with the ghosts of her painful past, she must choose whether she herself wants – or deserves – to survive, in spite of everything she, and all humans, have destroyed and lost
—— Ceridwen Dovey, author of In the Garden of the FugitivesThis book is a powerful - and entertaining - corrective to the idea that the only hopes that matter on this planet are those of our own species.
—— Tim Adams , GuardianMacdonald has a wonderful gift for exploring the intersection between nature and our experience of it, in writing that is both lyrical and impassioned.
—— Hannah Beckerman , ObserverOne of the most beautiful memoirs I've ever read. This story will say with you long after you put the book down
—— Emma GannonI just turned the last page (reluctantly!). A bold, often brutal exploration of memory, grief and love. Full of hope and heart. I can't recommend it enough
—— Terri White, author of Coming UndoneA brave, brilliant book that is both beautiful and important. Read it then buy it for all your friends
—— Hello!Gavanndra's memoir The Consequences of Love is absolutely beautiful. It's compelling, heartbreaking, sweet, honest, fascination. I recommend it HIGHLY. I absolutely LOVED it.
—— Marian KeyesThis stunning exploration of grief is so well written and profoundly moving
—— Good HousekeepingAn elegant study of grief and memory
—— GuardianHodge pours heartbreak and love into the pages of a book that never pretends to know the answers, and is all the better for it
—— Sunday TimesAn eye-opening snapshot of the fashion world in '90s London
—— Vogue UK