Spanning oceans and decades, Franny's physical and emotional journeys are at times devastating and, at others, surprisingly, undeniably hopeful. It’s a story about our mingling sorrows, both personal and global, and the survivor’s guilt that will be left in their wake. “Migrations” is a nervy and well-crafted novel, one that lingers long after its voyage is over. “What happens when the last of the terns die?” Franny muses. Still, 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. Also, the notion that anyone in Newfoundland is ever going to hold up a sign that says “Justice for fish, death to fishermen,” even after the global collapse of the world’s sea life, is sheer fantasy. At one point, fishing is banned worldwide by a nameless governmental body at another, Franny is pursued by a nameless sea police force. As the crew nears their destination, the plot gets jerky, at times leaning upon melodrama, and the narrative’s previous vagueness about this dystopian world feels flimsy and concocted. “Migrations” is not without flaws, however. Sea yarns that serve as voyages of self-discovery have been the exclusive literary domain of men for far too long, and McConaghy deserves extra credit for sounding the oceanic depths of the female soul. humility, with Franny playing Ishmael, the famously morose seafarer whose damp and drizzly soul has gone full November. Ringing any bells? As well as a work of first-rate climate fiction, “Migrations” is also a clever reimagining of “Moby-Dick,” that foundational text of humankind vs. We’re afloat in the realm of metaphor here, so to sum up: We have a mercurial and restless narrator signing on with a menacing captain who is rarely seen above deck. No matter the outrageous fuel costs required to make such a voyage. Somewhat implausibly, the captain agrees to take Franny aboard, hoping that her tracked terns will lead them to a hidden jackpot of herring. Seeking passage on a boat to follow the birds on what could be their final migration, Franny encounters Ennis Malone, the enigmatic and tight-lipped captain of the Saghani, a purse seine herring boat. We meet Franny Stone, a detached and mysteriously damaged woman who has traveled to Greenland to electronically tag what might be the last remaining colony of arctic terns before they embark upon the “longest natural migration of any living creature,” a pole-to-pole quest that will eventually land them in Antarctica.
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