Wow. I’m a bit addled after reading this one. I feel as though I was physically immersed in this book. There were so many feelings; longing, searching, passion, love, obsession, hopelessness and despair, forgiveness, loss and grief. Then there’s the overarching sense of coldness, complete body-numbing coldness. I don’t think you are meant to read this book so much as you are meant to feel it.

I really don’t want to say too much, but the basic premise is that the story takes place in the not so distant future, the world is at the tipping point of destruction due to climate change and there is a mass extinction of animals underway. Pretty much every non-domesticated animal is extinct or very nearly so. Your basic dystopian stuff. Our main character is Franny who is embarking on a voyage to follow the remaining Arctic Terns on what may possibly be their last migration. McConaghy tells the story by mixing past with the present, telling Franny’s story slowly throughout the book. And that’s all I think I can say without ruining it.

The writing is wonderful even in its melancholy bleakness.