Field Notes from an Extinction, Eoghan Walls
Field Notes from an Extinction, Eoghan Walls
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Field Notes from an Extinction
A Novel

Author: Eoghan Walls

Narrator: John Keating

Unabridged: 8 hr 14 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 03/03/2026


Synopsis

Told in the vernacular of the day, this novel-as-notebook features a nineteenth-century ornithologist on a remote Irish island—from the author of indie favorite The Gospel of Orla.

Field Notes from an Extinction follows the life and work of one Ignatius Green, a fictitious English scientist dispatched by the Royal Society to the remote island of Tor Mor off the northern Irish coast. Green is single-minded and self-righteous, brilliant and bumbling. He is determined to set the record straight on the mating rituals, feeding and care of hatchlings, and other minutiae he can gather about the Great Auk (pinguinus impennis).

Green's world is shattered when his monthly goods delivery arrives ravaged by the local Irish townsmen. His fury at their impertinence is matched only by his dismay at finding a small child amid the shipment—dirty, abandoned, mute, feral, and unmanageable. Worse, the locals are growing restless and hungry. And there is talk sweeping the land of a terrifying woman with unnatural power.

Green fights for his survival against brigands and hunger and the resolve of a fierce and angry child. And, perhaps, for a wider understanding of family amidst roiling societal unrest.

About Eoghan Walls

Eoghan Walls is a Northern Irish poet. He has lived and worked in Ireland, Britain, Germany, and Rwanda. He won an Eric Gregory Award in 2006, and his poetry has been shortlisted for multiple international awards, including the Bridport Prize, the Manchester Poetry Prize, and the Piggott Prize. He has published the first major translation of Heidegger's poetical works and currently teaches creative writing at Lancaster University. The Gospel of Orla is his debut novel.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Ruben on March 17, 2026

The Great Auk is having something of a moment in world literature. It became extinct in the mid-19th century and I had never heard of this beautiful bird until last year, when it first showed up in a brilliant short story by Ben Shattuck ('History of Sound') and then played a supporting role in 'Bea......more

Goodreads review by Curtis on March 19, 2026

Ah, my favorite trope, the antisocial weirdo who gets suddenly thrust into a parenting role. Also, the disgruntled British commoners really brought their Disgruntled British Commoner A-Game. Kudos.......more

Goodreads review by Kristen on March 15, 2026

This was one of the those books that fit in very neatly everything that I love in a book. It is written mostly as a journal (a favorite) and fast paced. Taking place in Ireland in the 1840's and during an extinction event, you get the sense that it's the end of the world. Ig starts the book as a nat......more

Goodreads review by Lindsay on February 01, 2026

Three and a half stars, rounded up to four. This book was not what I expected. After reading Piranesi the day before, I thought that I may have detected some similarities between the two books. They are of similar lengths, written as journals by men who have been alone amongst the birds in a strange,......more

Goodreads review by Rachael on March 12, 2026

I am really on the fence about how I feel about this book. I had the audiobook which was narrated well, however I found the story a bit dry and I found myself losing focus on what was happening. Ignatius Green is an English Scientist studying the last of the great Auks on a remote island. The story......more