There are 586 people on Goodreads who rated this 4 stars or higher and it doesn't come out till next month... and I am one of them. This was such an amazing audiobook! I felt like I was stuck on this remote deserted island right alongside the Salt family. This family ( Dom and his 3 kiddos: Raff, Fen, Orly) are on this island near Antarctica, the only remaining people part of a research team to protect and house the largest seed bank. (What a unique story already). They are the only ones left (we don't know why yet) and then after a horrible storm, a random woman (Rowan) arrives on the island, badly injured, beat up by the sea, and saved by Fen. She's got secrets and the Salts aren't sure if they should trust her, but they have secrets too! The sea level tide continues to rise and connections are made, lost, and secrets start coming to light during their race against time to escape the island. This story was equal parts mystery, family drama and second chances.  There were 4 narrators for this and for the most part I kept it straight, but I wouldn't have minded having a hard copy for reference, especially in the beginning as there are a lot of characters to learn. This amazing story comes out March 4th. Thank you Macmillan Audio for the gifted copy in exchange for an honest review. Can't wait to read more of Charlotte McConaghy's work.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the free audiobook in exchange for my honest review. This is narrated by Cooper Mortlock; Katherine Littrell; Saskia Maarleveld; and Steve West, all of whom do a fantastic job making the story come alive.

On an island in the middle of the ocean, somewhere between Australia and Antarctica, is Shearwater, where Dom and his three children serve as caretakers of the wild island, a few scientists, the world's largest seed collection and many, many animals. As the storms get worse, the scientists are leaving, and Dom is haunted by the death of his wife. Then a strange woman washes ashore.

This is a well written, complex story of family relations and imminent climate downfall, and how it is seen through the eyes of parents and children. The writing transports you to into the story and is very engaging!

This is one that I think I may have enjoyed a tad more if I had read the physical copy instead of the audio book. While I enjoyed this somewhat character driven literary fiction novel, at times it was a bit much for me, This may very well be a me problem as I am feeling emotionally drained, we just watched LA burn to the ground a couple of weeks ago and the rest of the country is burning to he$$ in a hand basket as well. So perhaps I should have put this aside and stuck to rom-coms and pure outrageous thrillers. I did enjoy it and once I truly got going it was easy to continue but for me it lacked something to push it into rave-land. Was it very good? Yes. Was it absolutely great as I keep hearing? I don't think so. Still worth a read.

WILD DARK SHORE is my first venture into Charlotte McConaghy's writing, but after seeing @emilybookedup rave about this book, I knew that I needed to jump in and give it a try. We SOMETIMES agree and I wanted to see what the buzz is about. WILD DARK SHORE dives into a world that is rapidly changing. On a sinking island near Antarctica, Dominic Salt and his kids are packing up the last of the world’s rarest seeds. Then, in the middle of a violent storm, they find Rowan—half-drowned, full of secrets. As they take her in, old wounds start to heal, but trust is fragile. And when Rowan uncovers what Dominic is hiding, survival takes on a whole new meaning.

With an atmospheric island setting, this book weaves a deeply emotional story of grief, survival, and trust. Told from multiple perspectives, the writing is immersive, rich with environmental detail, and narrated wonderfully in the audiobook. The mix of mystery, survival, and romance made it unforgettable. It is a very slow burning mystery, but I never lost interest. It just took me a lot longer to finish than expected. I alternated between the physical and audio of this book and I would highly recommend listening to the audiobook! This was my first Charlotte McConaghy book, but it won’t be my last.

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the Audio ARC!

I thoroughly enjoyed Charlotte McConaghy's two previous books, so I was anxiously looking forward to this one. And it did not disappoint! The multiple layers of tension and intrigue, both from internal and external sources, keep the book moving along at a rapid pace toward a climax that does everything but disappoint. The characters are very easy to connect to, and I found myself quickly drawn into their story, and invested in their survival. One of the main characters in this novel is the setting, and what a setting it is. It's hard to imagine a place as remote and isolated as the island described, but the author does a good job of transporting us there and making it real. If you're a fan of wild places, climate extremes, and broken people just trying to carry on, this book will definitely hit the spot.

Wild Dark Shore is another gripping, thought provoking and mysterious novel by Charlotte McConaghy. She captures the isolation and the beauty of Shearwater, a tiny island not far from Antarctica. brilliantly. The island was once full of researchers but now it is home to Dominic Salt and his three children. There are precious seeds on the island that must be protected and transported off the island. The sea levels are rising and during a storm, Rowan, a woman washes up on the shore. Trust is a big issue in this book as many of the characters have secrets. Can Rowan trust the Salts? Cam the Salts trust Rowan?

I was swept away to the island of Shearwater by Charlotte McConaghy's beautiful writing and vivid descriptions. She captured the trapped feeling that I love in books. I have enjoyed two of her previous books, Once There Were Wolves and Migrations. Both involve bleak settings, research, survival, climate change, and people leaving things behind for research and the greater good.

I enjoyed the mystery of this book. I wonder what happened to the sabotaged radios and the graves. I also enjoyed the bonds of the family, the love, the choices and actions we make for those we love, the island, and the descriptions of the wildlife that lives on the island.

This book has many levels which deal with loss, grief, secrets, love, family, climate change, survival, and the future. This book moves at a slower pace and while I struggle immensely with slower paced books, I did not mind the slower pacing in Wild Dark Shore. I found that it fits the plot and descriptions of life on the island perfectly.

I listened to the audio version of this book and the narrators did a fantastic job of bringing Wild Dark Shore to life.

Title: Wild Dark Shore
By: Charlotte McConaghy
Pub. Date: March 4, 2025

Genre:
Fiction, Suspenseful Thriller, Nature, Mystery

Content Warnings:
Death, Loss of loved one, Graphic Animal Content, Sexual Assault/Abuse,
*Sexual content in chapters 9, and 45*

Summary:
Dominic Salt brought his three children to take care of the lighthouse and research facility on Shearwater Island after the loss of his wife. Located between the coast of Australia and Antarctica, Shearwater Island is saturated with secrets. The island is home to scientists year-round, as they study nature, the waters, tides, and wildlife. After a fierce storm sweeps through the island, a woman mysteriously washes ashore. But how did she arrive in such a remote place? Her appearance seems impossible, and the question lingers: what could have drawn her to Shearwater Island?

Review:
Deep, Dark, and Startling…
Charlotte McConaghy is uniquely skilled, unlike anyone else. In Wild Dark Shore she weaves a dark, thought-provoking narrative that grips the reader, drawing them into an enthralling world they can't tear themselves away until the last page. Upon finishing, the reader is left in quiet contemplation, absorbed in the reflective narrative of the impact of the overall novel. If you admire her writing, you’re sure to Wild Dark Shore!!

*I listened to the audio version of Wild Dark Shore. I loved the narrators Cooper Mortlock, Katherine Littrell, Saskia Maarleveld, and Steve West! I love listening when the audio has multiple narrators, and this group engaged me from the first page until the last!

Thank you to Charlotte McConaghy, MacMillan Audio, and NetGalley for the Advanced Readers Copy for free. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

#MacmillanAudio
#CharlotteMcConaghy
#WildDarkShore
#reluctantreaderreads
#advancedreadercopies
#NetGalley

Since I’ve read McConaghy’s previous two books, I knew I was going to be in for a beautiful, atmospheric adventure. The way that she can set a scene and just make you feel like you are right there witnessing everything unfold is unparalleled.

I think that ‘Wild Dark Shore’ is my favorite of the three I’ve read so far of her work. I will say that I didn’t love the romantic angle in this one, it kind of gave me the ick in parts, so that’s why I knocked it down to a 4 star rating. However, I found the plot of this novel fascinating and it really made me think.

I listened to this as I was planning out my garden for this spring, so it was just magical timing.

Thank you @flatironbooks #partner and @netgalley for this advance audiobook of:

Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy
Pub date: 3.4.2025

I've read Migrations and Once There Were Wolves also written by McConaghy, and throughout each of them runs a thread that reminds us the fine line between living and dying. The connection between humanity and nature is both woven so tightly that when those bonds are tested nature likely wins. This is one of those stories. It's wonderful, exciting and memorable.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for this fantastically narrated audiobook! All opinions are my own.

How do I describe this book? This is literary fiction with mystery, suspense thrown in. For a person who reads a lot of thriller books, I never had a clue where the direction of the book was heading, haha.

On the island of Shearwater, near Antarctica, Dominic Salt and his three children seem to be the only residents left, taking care of the largest seed bank in the world (it is kind of scary to think of the world ending and wiping out every agricultural advances we now have). Then Rowan shows up, lost at sea, and washed up during a giant storm.

The Salt family takes care of her, but Dominic is puzzled why she is so far from home.

Rowan was a great female main character! She has depth, she has growth, and she has strength. Every Salt family member had their own little story to tell, and you can't help but love all of them and their faults. I love the details the author brought along with lush writing to set the beautiful setting and scenery. A story I won't forget any time soon!

"From beneath a carpet of ash, which the untrained eye would look at and see death, comes life, bursting free."

This book just sucks you in from the very beginning. The audio was fantastic! The writing, the characters, the setting, the STORY. One of family, survival, trust, and live. I was so invested in the whole thing, the entire time. The mystery and eeriness of the remote island, the animals! There's just so many good things to say about this book. Definitely recommend!!

On a remote island near Antarctica, Dominic Salt and his three children manage Shearwater, the world’s largest seed bank. They are the last people living there and struggle significantly with isolation. Their lives change when a storm washes Rowan ashore.

As the family helps Rowan recover, they grow closer to her. However, Rowan harbors her own secrets about why she came to Shearwater. Tension builds when she discovers broken radios and a newly dug grave, realizing that Dominic is concealing things too. Ultimately, they face a brewing storm and must decide if they can trust each other to protect the precious seeds while confronting their pasts.

Wild Dark Shore is an eco-fiction novel that explores the difficult choices we make for love as the world around us inevitably changes due to global warming. I was shocked by how much I loved this book! The beginning felt slow, especially since we didn’t initially understand Rowan's or Dominic's backgrounds. Both sides of the story remain mysterious until the very end. I had to suppress my sobs while listening to the conclusion. I own several of Charlotte McConaghy's other books but haven't read them yet, after experiencing this novel, they are moving to the top of my to-be-read list.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to review this ALC

"Wild Dark Shore" by Charlotte McConaghy is a eco-thriller set on the remote Shearwater Island, a research station between Australia and Antarctica. This book caught my attention from the beginning, and kept me wondering what happened. I liked the plot and the location of this book, it was interesting and different. I have read a few other books Charlotte has written and I like that she takes the reader to remote places. I received this ARC from Netgalley.

This is an exquisite, poignant, and heart-breaking novel. I don't normally countenance trigger warnings, but one may be relevant for Wild Dark Shore as its publication date follows so closely upon the catastrophic wildfires in California. No fires ignite on the dark and wild shore of the title, but Rowan washes up, close to death, on the remote island located close to Antarctica as an indirect result of a devastating fire that destroyed her Australian home. Once restored to a semblance of health, and with no way to leave, she integrates into the life of the last remaining family living on the island, responsible for "closing up shop" as a research station is dismantled due to rising sea levels. Who Rowan is and how and why she got there is the mystery that dominates the first part of the book, but as we and her "host" family--Dominic and his three children--get better acquainted, dark mysteries spring up with almost every turn of the ever-rising tide. Charlotte McConaghy is a truly gifted and skilled writer, capturing the reader's attention with her precise dialog, evocative descriptions, and masterly play with points of view (Rowan's in first person and the other characters in third). I finished the book feeling both more informed about the effects of climate change and forever touched by my acquaintance with such intricately drawn characters and their sad but life-affirming story.

“But here is the nature of life: that we must love things with our whole selves, knowing they will die.”

Dominic Salt and his three children are the sole lingering humans on Shearwater, a small, subantarctic island where a seed bank is secured. Then a woman washes up on their shore.

From the first page, McConaghy creates an intriguing maelstrom of uncertainty. We don’t know if any character can be trusted to tell the truth—each of the five major characters is grieving in multiple ways, and that grief germinates secrets. In these last weeks until the Salt family is to leave the island forever, Rowan’s arrival creates problems that only exacerbate their family’s grief and guilt over missing others. A sense of humming menace pervades.

Shearwater Island, 1500 kilometers from anywhere, is home to thousands of elephant seals, penguins, and albatross, in waters filled with whales. It’s a place of stunning beauty—and dangerous storms, which McConaghy describes with the detail and the delicacy that make her writing so beautiful. Her passion for nature illuminates all her books.

Wild Dark Shore’s five points of view are voiced by four narrators (Cooper Mortlock; Katherine Littrell; Saskia Maarleveld; Steve West). The narration was easy to follow, and all the narrators were excellent at conveying the emotional subtleties of their characters. Sasha Maarleveld is a popular and accomplished narrator for good reason; I found Steve West’s depiction of Dominick especially well-matched to McConaghy’s writing of that character. Overall, I think the audio was excellent, and I’m glad I experienced the book in audio format.

Climate fiction is not a genre I find easy to read, but Charlotte McConaghy is a master writer who ignites both my intellect and emotion. Her characters have great depth and credibility; the wild settings are described with vivid sensory detail. There are gut-punches here, but I survived. McConaghy’s plots are not optimistic, but still somehow they are hopeful, and leave me feeling enriched, satisfied, even inspired. “Maybe we will drown or burn or starve one day, but until then we get to choose if we will add to that destruction or if we will care for each other.”

Thanks to Macmillan Audio via Netgalley for providing this audio for my review. All opinions are my own.

Wow! This may be my first 5 star book this year. Did not know what to expect when I selected this book, but I am so grateful for the opportunity I had to read it. Beautifully narrated, wonderfully developed characters, and set in a remote but wildly captivating landscape. I was drawn into this book instantly and did not want to put it down for a moment. I loved my time spent with this book and can't wait to read more in the future from this author. Thank you, NetGalley and publisher for the ARC of this audiobook. Everyone else: run and get it on March 4th.

Every time I read a Charlotte McConaghy book, it invokes in me a deep sense of melancholy. It's like I feel those words she writes and in the most intense manner.

“But here is the nature of life: that we must love things with our whole selves, knowing they will die.”

Wild Dark Shore is a dark and haunting story, full of flawed characters, an immersive plot, and the wild setting of a remote island near Antarctica. The fictional island of Shearwater is also home to the world’s largest seed bank and a character of its own.

Part climate dystopia, part literary fiction and part mystery with an added bonus of a slow burn romance, Wild Dark Shore is a genre bending, bleak, eerie yet hopeful story. Readers will savor this from start to finish, while at the same time shedding tears for the characters and raging at our current climate situation. The underlying themes are of human connection and endurance, the unconditional love between a parent and child, the delicate balance of our earth's ecosystem and climate change and its disastrous consequences.

If you've read a book by Charlotte McConaghy, you would know her prose is sharp and elegant. She can pack a punch with the most simple of sentences. It's truly a talent, writing an engrossing tale and keeping the readers captivated with the characters and storyline while simultaneously educating them about the climate crisis through the emotions and struggles of said characters. It's a brilliant approach to climate dystopia.

The full cast audio was wonderfully done and made the listening an experience to be had!

A true masterpiece that I'll be recommending a lot!

Thank you, NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this ARC audiobook for review. WOW!! I have read every Charlotte McConaghy book and every single one is just beautiful. This one might be my favorite though. The gorgeous description of the area, the tale of every character and what brought them to the point, whether you can trust them or not. This author is a must read for the lush detail and depth of stories they bring every time.

Thank you Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for this alc.

You can’t imagine my excitement when I was invited to review this audiobook. I’ve never read McConaghy before but everything I read about her previous books was only compliments. The story is set on a remote island, somewhere between Australia and Antarctica, that is vanishing under the rising of sea levels.

There is only one family living on this island and they are getting ready to leave when a body of a woman is washed up on shore. They nurse her back to health but there is something about her and the circumstances that made her appear on that island that are completely mysterious.

The writing is gorgeous, I really liked the twists, and I didn’t see the ending coming. The audiobook has a full cast narration: Cooper Mortlock; Katherine Littrell; Saskia Maarleveld, and Steve West. The full cast made the story dynamic, revealing character nuances, and providing a more immersive listening experience.

This book comes out March 4th, 2025.

Wild Dark Shore
Charlotte McConaghy
Narrated by Cooper Mortlock, Katherine Littrell, Saskia Maarleveld, Steve West

ALC courtesy of MacMillan Audio and NetGalley.

Dominic Salt and his three children, Raff, Fen and Orly, live on Shearwater, a remote island near the Antarctic, caretakers for a research facility and home of the world’s largest seed bank. Due to rising waters threatening to reclaim the island, the facility has been shut down and the seeds relocated. During one of the island’s worst storms, a mysterious woman is shipwrecked and washed ashore. From here on in, Charlotte McConaghy elegantly weaves a web of mystery and intrigue, with a luscious, complex plot that will just suck you in. A slow burn at first, it gradually builds tempo, with unexpected turns that will keep you interested, with a building sense of doom, leading to a brooding, stormy crescendo. The characters, too, are multilayered, gradually and deftly developed by the author.

Nature is, in a way, another “character” in this novel – from encounters with seal families, to close calls with gigantic whales, to the tiny, humble dandelion seed. Climate change and the environment are tackled, reminiscent of a Richard Powers novel. In this novel, we see that nature is not only beautiful, but can be brooding and ruthless as well. In the wilds of nature, survival of man and beast is tenuous. <i>Wild Dark Shore</i> is also about love and family, trust and secrets, and the choices we unavoidably have to make.

A work of literary fiction, McConaghy’s sentences are lovely but to the point, not overly contrived. So is the excellent narration in this audiobook – particularly the voices of Dom and Rowan, which lend a further air of mystery to the narration. And of course, the dark, atmospheric setting of Shearwater, surrounded by petulant, stormy seas completes it.

5 stars for the novel and narration.