witchbuns

Charlotte McConaghy, 2020

Five Stars, no decay.

I’ve read her work in reverse order (third, second, this) and I’ve stepped closer and closer to each one, finding myself almost inside of the work. McConaghy is fascinated with her female heroines going wild, untethering from society and drawing closer to nature and animals and the ecosystem, simultaneously while the planet falls farther away from us. This one felt like whispers of something brand new I’ve never read, even having been deeply touched by her other novels, and I can’t imagine what it was like when it debuted.

We meet Franny who is not a reliable narrator, it feels like she’s lying to us along with everyone, but she joins a band of sailors in pursuit of a single-minded need. We don’t know the scope of her quest and we slowly begin to learn about the cast of characters, but the water gets warmer as we toe closer and the scenes that flash of her life with her husband are brilliant chaos of two people committing equally to something that feels short-lived. 

I loved the settings of this book and the reveals that crashed a few times into the timeline. Each of her books has a taught suspense that is well-earned and there is no resolution of the wild parts in Franny that need to desperately stay wild. I read a few reviews where people didn’t like her and I thought “Fuck Yeah.”