I'm 33% in & I feel like nothing is happening/has happened. This one has great reviews, so I think it's a me problem. It's very atmospheric/setting-driven but I'm just not feeling compelled to pick it back up.

Wild Dark Shore kept me on my toes and the edge of my seat. It was a heavy, dark and twisty read with and I really enjoyed how it kept me guessing. I am loving this author’s books and she’s quickly becoming an autobuy author for me. My only complaint is that the audio was difficult to follow at the beginning - the male’s voice took me a minute to get comfortable with and understand. I did love the multiple voices for characters, though!

& if you haven’t read Once There Were Wolves, you must - it’s great too!

!!!! Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this ARC.

Such a gem. I immediately purchased a hard copy for my personal library.

McConaghy is QUEEN of genre bending; weaving the nature component into literature and mystery so seamlessly is truly a gift. I even learned about the flora and wildlife of the setting. This is plot driven, character driven and a love letter to nature as a whole. That ending.... *hand to my heart*

The audio was amazing, but at times it was a wee bit difficult to follow due to all the action happening at once. And the narrator of Dominic... drool.

This is my second read from McConaghy. I want to reread Once There Were Wolves and Migrations is on my TBR!

Shearwater Island is home to many things- secrets included. When the biggest storm approaches life on the island is threatened from the rising global climate change. Will Dominic and his three children survive?

Another incredible novel by Charlott McConaghy. A unique blend of mystery and slightly alternative universe storytelling.

Rowan washes ashore on Shearwater island close to Antartica, where Dominic Salt and his family have been living in isolation. Dominic has three children, Raff, Fen and Orly, who have only ever known the island as their home. They are being evacuated shortly, as the island is sinking. While they nurse Rowan back to health, they realize they have been missing the warmth and companionship that Rowan brings. However, Rowan hasn’t been honest about why she came to Shearwater, and the Salts have been hiding their own secrets as well.

McConaghy is one of my favourite authors. She always comes up with these magnificent settings with these really flawed but likeable characters. They are always so human. I loved Rowan and Dominic and all of the kids. I felt like I could picture them perfectly. I could barely put this book down. I loved the different POVs and how they connected you to all the different characters. Thank you to @macmillan.audio and @netgalley for this amazing audiobook.

Beautiful, Dark, Lyrical -- Devastating.

I don't know why I do this to myself. Charlotte McConaghy has broken my heart before, I knew what I was walking into and I did it anyway. This book is stunning. My characters are real and raw and the setting is as much as character as any of the humans. The story of Dom and his three exception children is hopeful and heartbreaking at every turn. And Rowan... oh Rowan, the female lead is just incredible. McConaghy writes some of the most astounding characters I've read. Then, there's Shearwater Island itself. I would swear I could feel and smell the cold salt air and hear the seals and penguins on the beach. The isolation of such a place would be awe-inspiring and terrifying in equal parts.

The mystery at the heart of the story unfolds in unexpected ways and I'd advise against thinking you can get ahead of where McConaghy is so skillfully taking you. The audiobook is presented through multi-narration and every single one is done to perfection. Some standout performances for me were the voices of Dom and Rowan, especially Dom's voice. It gave so much added depth to his character. I am also always a huge fan of Saskia Maarleveld.

Please do check trigger warnings for this book as it contains some very, very heavy themes.

*Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for an ALC in exchange for my honest review*

As always, Charlotte McConaghy delivers on environmentally themed mysteries. A remote island off the coast of Antarctica is shaken to its core when a woman washes up on shore. But of course, this island always had secrets. I loved the accents of the narrators and how much feeling they were able to impart in such short bits of dialogue.

Be warned - this book is heaaaaavy. And I can't put my finger on why exactly I didn't resonate with this book, but I think just the pile of heavy themes on top of a heavy plot really just did me in. But that being said, I think it's a book that would be better on a reread with my eyes.

It PAINS me to DNF this but I just can’t do it. I’m not connecting with the story or characters at all and was bored to tears reading this. I tried an ebook copy and audio and none were doing it for me. This is a shame because Migrations is one of my favorite books and I was highly anticipating this book.

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio Influencer 2025 program for a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed her previous book more than I did this one, I was really lost in the story and couldn't follow it.

Charlotte McConaghy writes in such a beautiful way! I normally listen to fiction books at at 1.75x.... But I knew I was going to want to savor this book so I listened at 1x and I am so glad I did. I absolutely loved this book and have recommended it to everyone.

Another absolutely stunning, gut wrenching novel from McConaghy that tackles themes of love and our changing climate. Dom and his three children reside on Shearwater island - an incredibly lonely, but necessary existence - they are the caretakers of the largest seedbank in a rapidly declining world - where natural disasters are happening at a rapid fire pace. When Rowan washes ashore Shearwater island, nearly dead, Dom is wary - where did she come from and what harm will she bring to his family.

Told in alternating points of view, this is an astounding and heartbreaking story - an ode to the beauty of our world and the love of family. I know now that I will always pick up a book written by McConaghy. The narration is top notch as well - with multiple narrators taking on the different POVs.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a digital ARC of this title!

This was absolutely, devastatingly good, Charlotte McConaghy has really come into her own with her latest novels and Wild Dark Shore is no different. I absolutely adored the characters we met, and loved the plot twists she took us through. This will be one of my favorite books this year.

The audio cast was exceptional. Richard Armitage never disappoints, but the additional narrators held their own and brought the story to life. They added to the story and brought additional depth to the characters. The emotional expression was perfect.

What an Emotional Saga!

Life on an isolated island off Antarctica is a very solitary one. Even for the Salt Family that calls Shearwater home. Caretakers of the island, and the world’s largest seed bank requires a lot, made worse by global warming, and rising sea levels which will soon flood the island.

Dominic, Raff, Fen, and Orly Salt have lost almost everything, except for each other. When Rowan, a mysterious woman washes up on shore, their lives and perspectives change. Near Death, the Salts nurse Rowan back to health, all in the midst of a global crisis. Little do they know Rowan has an agenda and hasn’t arrived on the island by chance.

Fighting for survival, and the truth, the Salts and Rowan form what seems like an impossible bond which threatens to tear them apart, that is if the climate change crisis doesn’t do it first.

Wild Dark Shore is dark, atmospheric, hauntingly beautiful, and intense, and is the story of struggle, of life, and of death. The characters, the lush, yet stark wildlife, nature, and plants kept me captivated and left me eagerly awaiting Charlotte McConaghy’s next novel.

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the alc.

I was so excited to listen to this after loving Once We Were Wolves. McConaghy is back with the same beautiful writing and new intriguing characters.

This is more of a slow paced book but it had good mystery and I enjoyed it all the way through. The author’s passion for nature really came through.

On a remote island near Antarctica, Shearwater—once a thriving research base—is now home to the world’s largest seed bank. As rising sea levels threaten its future, the researchers have long since departed, leaving only the Salt family—Dom and his children, Raff, Fen, and young Orly—to pack up and prepare for their own inevitable departure. For nearly a decade, Shearwater has been their home, a place where they have endured loss, heartbreak, assault, and the isolation that comes with such a remote existence.

Amid the chaos of leaving behind their long-time refuge, a woman washes ashore. Barely alive, Rowan is nursed back to health by the Salts, but her arrival carries an unsettling energy, stirring up long-buried secrets within the family. As they confront their past wounds and the truths they’ve tried to ignore, Rowan’s presence becomes a catalyst for both reckoning and healing.

Wild Dark Shore is a mesmerizing work of literary fiction that blends multiple genres to craft a haunting, immersive story about nature, love, family, and loss. The novel is a slow burn, building toward a powerful conclusion steeped in ethereal imagery and raw human connection. Even in one of the most remote places on Earth—where nature reigns supreme—this story is a striking reminder that the greatest threat to our world, and to one another, remains humanity itself.

It took awhile to get into this book. The audiobook narrartor was a challenge to understand, I couldn’t; wait to finish this book to find out the ending. The timelines were a little all over the place. Thank you for the arc of this unique book!

[alc review]
Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for providing an advanced audiobook in exchange for an honest review.
Wild Dark Shore releases March 4, 2025

Dominic and his three kids have been caretakers of the Shearwater Island Global Seed Vault for several years now, but due to rising sea levels, all operations have been scheduled to shut down.
With seven weeks to go until they depart the island for good, a woman named Rowan washed ashore on the cusp of a storm.
What brings the wife of the senior botanist/research team leader to such a remote setting with limited resources?

This story was painfully boring, which came as a shock to me considering how much I loved McConaghy’s previous release. In comparison, this lacked the layered writing, complexity, and depth that I know the author is capable of achieving.

I couldn’t make sense of the immediate desire and intimacy between Dom and Rowan when they both knew Rowan was still a married woman, and I would’ve rather stuck with either first or third person narration instead of muddling the two between several character pov’s.

BOOK REVIEW: WILD DARK SHORE

The Salt family lives on the remote island of Shearwater at its research center, helping to pack up seeds from the large seed bank before they move off the island due to rising sea levels. A woman washes up on shore one day and the family nurses her back to health and takes her in.

I have been seeing this one all over bookstagram so knew I’d have to pick it up! I am honestly not sure I’ve read a book quite like this one before, and I’m still processing my thoughts on it. The remote island landscape was practically a character of its own and the many descriptions of nature and animals on the island really added to this story. I thought the way that grief, trust, and family were explored throughout the story as well.

The audio for this one was great and I alternated between physical and audio as I read. Overall, I appreciated the story and writing style but can’t say I was obsessed, I think I didn’t fully connect with any of the characters which left me feeling a bit indifferent by the end.

The writing of this book was absolutely beautiful. The way the scenes were described was vivid and made me feel like I could see the places they were describing. This was a huge advantage for a book set on an isolated island with unique scenery. Plot wise, I really enjoyed knowing very early on that everyone had secrets, but spending much of the book wondering what those secrets were and why characters had chosen certain paths. I absolutely loved certain aspects of the characters, and especially Orly (because what's not to love, he was the best). I think the three children absolutely shone above all in this book. The adult relationships were more difficult to believe. It may be an unfair judgement on my part simply because I cannot imagine myself acting the way Dominic and Rowan did, but I found myself struggling quite a bit with the way their relationship unfolded. Over all, I really enjoyed reading this book and the narrators did a wonderful job (although the strong Australian accents took some getting used to).

3.5 stars rounded up.