Wild Wings

While the novel is strongly focused on the fate of a single osprey, it also foregrounds the emotional bonds among humans and how those bonds are repeatedly tested by the threat of loss. The text first introduces Callum when he pivots away from his best friends, Euan and Rob, and chooses to follow Iona instead. This immediately creates a rift in the boys’ bond. Iona is a newcomer to the town, and Rob fears losing his friendship with Callum. To counter that threat, he immediately implies that Iona and her grandfather as “nutters.” These exchanges establish a sense that relationships are precarious and require work to prevent loss.

Callum feels guilty because he knows that Iona is in an emotionally vulnerable state. She has recently been sent away from her mother, leaving her heartbroken. She even tells Callum, “[s]he’s never coming back for me” (109-110). With an absent mother and a neglectful grandfather, Iona feels that her relationship with Callum and Iris offers the only emotional stability in her life. On her deathbed, she fuses both those sources of love into one by making Callum promise to look after Iris.

Callum now finds himself in the excruciating position of trying to protect a bird that he loves from thousands of miles away.