Time is weird. I thought my awareness of Charlotte McConaghy began about two years ago, but when I looked at the publication dates of her books it may have been closer to four years ago. I’ll just say I first started hearing about Charlotte’s book Once There Were Wolves somewhere between two and four years ago. Either way, people had been talking about this book a lot. It was often described as a story about two sisters studying wolves in Scotland. It sounded interesting, but not interesting enough for me to add it to my TBR. Then last year one of my BookTubers referred to it as an unhinged woman story. I had never heard it described that way. My curiosity was piqued, so I got it from Libby.

Funny thing – I wouldn’t describe Once There Were Wolves as a story about sisters studying wolves or an unhinged woman. Having now read all three of Charlotte McConaghy’s books, I can say she has a very distinct formula. Her novels have all had dual timelines, with concurrent mysteries in the main character’s past and present. She also puts her characters though it. There’s deep, soul scarring events that permanently change the character.

While the structure of her books is all pretty much the same, the other element that is also present is her exploration of people’s connection to nature and our planet. Her books exist in a time when climate change has advanced a bit further than where we are now, and people are feeling the destruction and extinction more acutely. As someone who's passionate about fighting climate change, I find those elements particularly heartbreaking.

Wow, that’s a rough sell. It is true though, and I don’t think Charlotte is for everyone. She’s just so good at weaving in the mystery through all the damage people are doing to each other and the planet. I am going to chat about the books, but I will do it without spoilers. While the mysteries are fun, what makes Charlotte special to me is where she takes you in her stories.

Once There Were Wolves

So, yeah, sisters studying wolves in Scotland is not exactly what happens. One of the sisters is trying to reintroduce a group of gray wolves into Cairngorms National Park. The Scottish Highlands are on my bucket list. My dream is to drive across all of Scotland. If I had the money to do it, I would go to the Outer Hebrides, Orkney and all the way up to the Shetland Islands. Yep, that’s the dream.

While the present-day story takes place in the Scotland, the sisters are actually Australian, like Charlotte herself. The sisters start in Australia, and flashbacks follow them to British Columbia and Alaska. My preteen-self dreamed of one day going to Australia. Alaska has been on my list for a while. I’ve been to Vancouver and Victoria, BC and am planning a trip, hopefully this summer, to go further north. Needless to say, I love the globetrotting element.

My heart was invested in the fate of the wolves. Charlotte explores the tension between the civilized world and the spaces we’ve allowed to stay wild. It is something we’ve delt with for decades, as the land man has staked for himself expands. My heart breaks every time I see or hear about cougars and wolves coming into suburban areas. I actually saw a bear once in an undeveloped patch of land next to a busy road. It broke my heart.

Once There Were Wolves was not about two sisters studying wolves, but there’s an event – or two – that could cause a woman to become unhinged. Olga Tokarczuk’s Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead is closer to the unhinged woman battling mankind on behalf of the natural world story. My heart is always on the side of the animals, and in the case of both of these books, the women fighting for them.

Migrations

One of my BookTubers, Emma, has a fascination with ice in all its natural forms, and is always reading books that take place in a frozen landscape. Years ago, she talked about reading Migrations. She said the book takes place in the near future when more and more animals are becoming extinct. It follows a woman who's determined to track the last Artic terns as they make their final migration.

Again, that’s a bit of an oversimplification. She is indeed following the Artic terns from the North Atlantic to Antarctica for the last time. The story is how she does it, and most importantly why. It is a heartbreaking story, as all Charlotte’s books are, but I was there for it. They start in another of my bucket list locations, Newfoundland and Labrador. One of my favorite books of the year – so far – is Isola. It also takes place on one of the scattered islands off Newfoundland. Emma, who is Canadian, did a vlog for a trip she did out there. The coastline is stunning.

It was with Migrations that I understood Charlotte has a formula of weaving a mystery through the past and the present. Centering the story around a woman who is deeply connected to the natural world and is fighting to hold on to it as it slips away. Migrations is actually Charlotte’s first book, and Once There Were Wolves was her second. You could see how she’s grown as a writer and finding her voice. I wasn’t interested in Migrations as Emma described it. I only realized it was “that” book when I was desperate to read more from Charlotte.

Wild Dark Shore

Wild Dark Shore is Charlotte’s latest release, which came out last month. I was so excited; I actually went out to Barnes & Noble to get it. I left the house!! Oh, my goodness, I loved it. This time she takes us to an island about halfway between Tasmania and the Antarctic. It is an island with more seals than people. A father maintains the lighthouse on this island with his three kids. One day a woman washes up on the shore. OMG!! There are so many questions, and Charlotte slowly fills in the picture of what is going on.

The climate aspect of this story centers around how this island is being consumed by the ocean. The children have forged a connection to this disappearing island. The daughter lives on the beach with the seals, the eldest son records the whales singing to each other, and the youngest boy is a savant when it comes to the island’s flora. Part of me was jealous that these children were able to grow up with such a deep connection to sea life. Then I had to be real with myself, I couldn’t live somewhere without 5G.

I was about 10 pages in when I went to Google Maps to see what islands I could find between Tasmania and Antarctica. I found Macquarie Island. It looked exactly like what she was describing only without a lighthouse. Charlotte had an epilogue, and she did, in fact, base the island on Macquarie. She and her husband went there for research. I’ve been to Iceland and the Faroe Islands, and Macquarie is very much in that vein, just a tiny version of them. My heart aches a bit, I’d love to go there.

I want to say again that Charlotte is not for everyone. Her books are wrenching. I sobbed at the end of Wild Dark Shore. I love where she takes me with her stories. Her characters are multidimensional. I am as emotionally invested with the land and wildlife as I am with her characters. It elevates my anxiety. I care about the fate of the plants, birds and wolves. She plots these great mysteries. Who is this woman who washes up on the shore of an island a thousand miles from civilization?

Charlotte keeps getting better, too. In a way I am glad I read Once There Were Wolves first. I understood what she was doing with Migrations. Then Wild Dark Shore was everything I wanted it to be. Honestly, it is stunning to me that it was only October when I read There Where Once Wolves. I read Migrations in December and finished Wild Dark Shore this month. I gobbled them all up and now I have to wait for more.

I love Charlotte McConaghy! ✌️