McConaghy was inspried to write this book in part by a trip to Macquarie Island, (photo above) which is located halfway between Tasmania and Antarctica. The remote Southern Ocean island is home to penquins, sea birds, and seals and a unique set of plants. The island was one of my favorite characters in this well written family drama / mystery story. It is set in the future and rising seas due to climate change is putting the island and most importantly, the research station and seed vault in jeopardy of being washed away.
The story focuses on the caretaker, Dominic, a single dad with twin teenagers (a boy and a girl) and a third son age nine. The novel begins with a woman washing up on shore from a shipwreck who the daughter dramatically rescues from the shore. There are lots of descriptions of the island’s flora and fauna throughout the book interspersed between different narrators giving their point of view of what is happening. The island’s communication gear is not working and a naval ship will be coming to collect the family and as many seeds as possible before the research station is closed for good, or inudated by rising seas, whichever comes first. The ship is seven weeks away from retrieving them and the story unfolds of why all the research scientists are gone and the family is alone and how this new woman plays into the story.
I would love someday to stay on an island like this. My closest experience was visiting an island in the Straits of Magellan in southern Chile over 25 years ago. Nadia and I travelled to Punta Arenas, the most southerly city in Chile during a Winter Break when we just met each other.
I highly recommend the book and I see why it is one of the best books of the year according to the New York Times.
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