Jill Hedgecock

Fiction Writer

books to read

Book Review: Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy


Book Review by Jill Hedgecock


Migrations (Flatiron Books, 2022, paperback, 272 pages, $9.96) by Charlotte McConaghy is the story of Franny Stone who lives in a dystopian future where most of the world’s birds have become extinct. She risks it all to follow what she believes will be the last migration of Arctic terns across the ocean from Greenland to Antarctica. She convinces Ennis Malone, the captain of a fishing boat named the Saghani, to take her on as a crew member. Malone believes that the terns will reveal the location of fish, a commodity that is also on the cusp of extinction.

Franny is a deeply damaged character with a surprising history—a dark past that is about to catch up with her. Franny is very unpredictable, can be violent, and she is also a sleepwalker, which can be a dangerous condition on a fishing boat. Two sides of Franny are revealed throughout the novel. Her motivations to follow the terns are juxtaposed against her turbulent Irish childhood where she grew up without a mother. McConaghy’s talent at creating compelling characters goes beyond Franny. In addition to the quirky members of the fishing boats, readers get to know Franny’s husband, Niall. He is as compulsive as she is and extremely tolerant of Franny’s idiosyncrasies. Niall is a professor who first encounters Franny during an ornithology lecture he is teaching. When she bolts from his classroom, he seeks her out. He eventually discovers Franny works as a janitor at the college and isn’t a student. Niall falls hard for her, and they impulsively get married. Their bond is truly unique and special, because at their core, they care deeply about birds.

Migrations was an Instant National Bestseller, an Amazon Editor’s Pick Best Book of the Year in Fiction. a TIME Magazine Best Book of the Year, and the #1 IndieNext Pick for August 2020. Fans of Barbara Kingsolver will probably enjoy McConaghy’s novels. Her books are bound to land on the top of my “books to read next” file. I can’t wait to see what she writes next.

Charlotte McConaghy has a master’s degree in Screenwriting from the Australian Film Television and Radio School. Migrations was her first novel. Her second novel, Once There Were Wolves, is a romantic mystery about a biologist working to reintroduce wolves to the Scottish Highlands. It was an Instant New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, and Instant Indie Bestseller. It was also a #1 IndieNext Pick and a Book of the Month Club Selection. She lives in Sydney, Australia with her partner and son.

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Book Review: The Crossing by Michael Connelly


Review by Jill Hedgecock


The Crossing (2016, Little Brown Company, reprint, paperback, $10.22, 400 pages) by Michael Connelly exemplifies Connelly’s mastery at revealing interesting details of the law and crime investigation. In this latest suspense book, Connelly’s twenty-eighth novel, Mickey Haller, a defense lawyer, believes his client, Da’Quan Foster, is innocent. Foster is accused of brutally raping and murdering Lexi Parks. Odds are decidedly in the prosecutor’s favor on this case because the accused’s DNA has been found inside the woman’s body. Haller’s challenges don’t end there. His top-notch private investigator is in the hospital. With nowhere else to turn, Mickey strong-arms his reluctant half-brother, Harry Bosch, a newly retired homicide detective formerly with the Los Angeles Police Department, to help on the case.

Throughout the novel, Connelly’s sense of place adds yet another intriguing dimension. During a visit to Hollywood Forever, a cemetery for celebrities, readers learn a wonderful tidbit about the demise of Carl Switzer, best known for his portrayal of Alfalfa from Our Gang, a 1930s television show. On a more sobering note, the author weaves in disturbing aspects of the dark recesses of Los Angeles underworld.

Throughout the twists and turns of the Parks case, the “crossing” theme emerges. First described early on in the book as the point at which the perpetrator meets the victim, the nuances of crossings pop up again and again. For instance, Bosch, who has given testimony only for the prosecution, crosses over to the defense table. A doctor crosses a professional line and has a relationship with one of his patients. Several unethical cops collide with Haller and Bosch to thwart their quest for truth.

One of the great things about reading Connelly’s novels is his ability to create realistic characters. From to the irascible Bosch, to Cisco, the tattooed private investigator, to my personal favorite, Mickey Haller, played by Matthew McConaughey in the 2011 movie, The Lincoln Lawyer, the characters are memorable. With the launch of Season 2 of the television series, Bosch, which premiered on March 11, 2016, the transformation of Connelly’s characters from page to screen has occurred once again. But don’t let the lure of television keep you from picking up The Crossing, because there is one last crossing that must take place: the junction between readers and Bosch’s journey as he discovers the truth behind Lexi Park’s murder.

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Book Review: The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson


Book review by Jill Hedgecock

The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek (2019, paperback, Sourcebooks Landmark, 322 pages, $9.75) by Kim Michele Richardson, was inspired by the real life “blue people” of Kentucky, and a little known literacy program. The Packhorse Librarians of the Appalachians was a unique program funded by Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal during the Great Depression. The narrator is 19-year-old Cussy Mary Carter, a woman whose skin turns blue when she is agitated or excited. She is considered colored and suffers the prejudices of a small coal mining town in the 1930s Kentucky. Cussy lives with her ailing father who works in the local coal mine. Cussy was named after the village in France where her family originated, but most people call her Bluet or Book Woman.


She doesn’t mind being called “Book Woman.” She loves riding her mule into the backwoods to hand-deliver library materials to her patrons. Her father, however, wants to marry her off. Cussy’s blue coloration resulted in marriage to an unsavory man. Her husband’s untimely death results in her inheriting a sure-footed mule named Junia. Junia is a cantankerous animal and, like Cussy, a survivor. The pack horse’s fierce loyalty to Cussy makes the creature an endearing character.


The historical details on the library materials, which are donated, offer an interesting sidebar, particularly the scrapbooks created by the Packhorse Librarians. These books contained recipes, fabric swatches, and practical guidance from the local community.


Cussy’s grit and determination to reach her library patrons under extreme hardships will endear readers, and the bigotry she endures makes her a sympathetic protagonist. The extreme poverty and hunger she and her book patrons endure is startling and reeks of realism. Cussy is both despised and feared for her condition, which is eventually diagnosed as methemoglobinemia, a rare genetic blood disorder. After the discovery, Cussy takes methylene blue pills which make her very sick and doesn’t result in community acceptance.


While some characters in this book display ignorance, many of the country-folk are kind. As the mountain people overcome their reluctance and suspicion of the library materials, their lives are enhanced as they embrace the knowledge in them.


The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek has earned a 2019 LibraryReads Best Book, a 2019 Forbes Best Historical Novel, 2020 PBS Readers Choice, an Oprah’s Buzziest Books pick and a Women’s National Book Association Great Group Reads selection.


Kim Michele Richardson is a New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and USA Today bestselling author. She has written four works of historical fiction, and a bestselling memoir, The Unbreakable Child. Richardson was born in Kentucky and lives in the northern part of the state, She rented a cabin near the Appalachian Mountains in South Carolina for a year in order to conduct research for the novel. She is a book critic for the New York Journal of Book. Her novels include: Liar’s Bench, GodPretty in the Tobacco Field, and The Sisters of Glass Ferry. To learn more, visit www.kimmichelerichardson.com.


Fans of The Book of Lost Names by Lisa Wyngate, Where the Crawdad’s Sing by Delia Owens and The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd should enjoy this novel. Infused with meticulous research, inspirational prose, and compelling characters, this novel ranks one of the best novels I’ve read in a long time.

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