A poignant story that follows the life of Ruthie Fear as she grew up in Bitterroot Valley, a pristine place that fell victim to civilization and "progress". Haunted by a headless, feathered monster from childhood, Ruthie's life is shaped and challenged by many contemporary themes that affect us today. Both beautiful and ugly, happy and sad, Ruthie Fear will linger long after you read the last word.

McConaghy writes a poignant tale of two intersecting and courageous journeys, one of bird, the other human. Written with profound insight, Migrations tells the story of Franny Stone's quest to follow the endangered Arctic tern migration from Greenland to the Wendall Sea near the Antarctic Peninsula. While following this fragile yet indomitable bird on the longest migration of any animal, Franny's quest to calm her inner turmoil and find closure is as harrowing as her time at sea. With well-crafted parallels and polarities, Migrations makes you think and feel, and stays with you long after reading the last word. You must make this journey!

The starkly dark tone and theme of the book mirrored the description of Catherine House and continued in the development of the characters, Ines and Baby. Lost, disenfranchised, and lonely adolescents were promised a life of success if they agreed to the bizarre contract required by the school.

The lack of action and endless dreary narrative made reading the book a chore. I forced myself to finish because I wanted to see if there were a point to the misery in the book. Even the attempt at intrigue with "plasm" was not carried out well. My conclusion is Catherine House is an attempt at a gothic mystery surrounding the "plasm" project, and the very sad coming of age story of the protagonist, Ines.The book left me feeling sad for Ines. Not my kind of story.