This is a breathtaking and moving novel about a family of four who live on a remote island called Shearwater, which houses the world’s precious seed bank. The island, close to Antarctica is eroding rapidly and climate change is well and truly wreaking havoc. The island was once host to research scientists who have since gone leaving only the caretaker family, a man and his three children. They are to save the seed bank from the rising ocean until a ship comes for them. To complicate matters, the teenage daughter, Fen finds a woman, Rowan washed ashore during a storm and herein lies the mystery of why and how she got there.

Sound intriguing? It is and it’s a page-turner you won’t want to put down. Quite apart from the exquisite writing which is evocative of a harsh landscape, McConaghy provides depth with each character and a tension packed mystery.

The family don’t know why Rowan is there and she equally mistrusts them despite the fact that they nurse her back to health. Dominic, the father has raised his teenagers, Raff and Fen and nine-year-old, Orly for the last eight years. Their mother is there with them in spirit and we learn later what happened to her. Rowan is herself a victim of a devastating bushfire and there are secrets everywhere. However, Rowan provides a connection with compassion and is a conduit to heal not just for her but for each member of the family.

Orly is an unusual child who feels the weight of the job to save the seeds. The idea of how important they are is portrayed from his point of view which at times is a bit of an information dump. Despite his intelligence it takes a leap to see him as a nine-year old voice and this is the only minor downside.

The family live in a lighthouse in a place as inhospitable as it comes. As a reader, I felt the howling wind, the horizontal rain and the bitter cold. I was also moved by the plight of the penguins, seals and whales once brutally hunted but now thriving in the remoteness despite the ticking time-bomb of a rapidly vanishing land.

McConaghy doesn’t allow us to read lightly and we can’t avoid the picture she paints of what could and will be in all of our futures. Mixed with this though, is hope for the family and Rowan as they prepare the move to the mainland leaving behind the ghosts which have haunted them.

This is McConaghy’s third novel and I think her best yet. I loved it.

Check this one out.

This is a tale of Betty Rankin who on the eve of her hundredth birthday tells us all about her life.

Betty is born into a large poverty-stricken family whose stoic mother dies after giving birth to the tenth child. Her family barely survives with their errant alcoholic father. During WW2 she’s sent away to the country. From here on we are given a snapshot of her life throughout the decades of many highs and even more lows when she navigates to the other side of the world as a ten-pound pom.

This is a very easy read as Oswald quickly establishes the character of Betty in the early pages so that the reader feels a strong enough connection to care about her and her eventful life. I couldn’t put it down as I feared and hoped for her while admiring her courage and tenacity under all obstacles.

This is also a story of friendship and gives the reader pause to reflect on how important our own friendships are along the journey of life. Indeed, the love for her friends is what kept her going.

The writing is witty and smart told in a memoir-like fashion from Betty’s point of view. She’s funny, plucky and the mistakes she makes aren’t judged too harshly except by herself. She stands up for what she feels is right and tries to make a difference for herself and the world she navigates.

Themes of friendship, family, grief, trauma, indigenous rights, feminism, politics and love all feature in Betty’s commentary reflecting the history of the times as we stroll through the decades with her.

I found though the narrative waned a little towards the end by the telling rather than the showing. At times I began to wonder if the narrator was indeed a ninety-nine-year-old because her adventures in her eighties seemed a little far-fetched. But I caught myself as I recalled an aunt of mine who had indeed bucked the ageist stereotype by doing extraordinary things. It made me look at my own biases about what we think of our elderly and what we expect they should be like. Perhaps it’s a message that age is no barrier, only our thinking is.

This one is a very enjoyable read so check it out.