I had a very hard time trying to get into this book and eventually gave up abut 20% in. I think that the problem may have been the narrator, whose delivery is slow and monotone. I am sorry that I was unable to read it and hope to try the physical copy as some point.

This was a heartbreakingly beautiful book made all the more beautiful by the dual narration. It's a timely novel that makes climate disaster deeply personal. The character development was slow but perfect, making you love the people and relationships within the story. For those that ask what having and raising children in the age of climate disaster looks like and feels like, this novel is for you.

I highly recommend Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy. The story is a masterful blend of gripping mystery, atmospheric storytelling, and profound emotional depth. I genuinely felt that I was on the beautiful, remote Shearwater Island with the details that McConaghy gave. The novel touches on subjects of isolation and grief in a real and heartbreaking way.

McConaghy's writing vividly brings the harsh, crumbling landscape of Shearwater to life, making the setting a character in its own right. The narrative delves deep into themes of environmental conservation, family dynamics, and personal resilience. As the story unfolds, there were many unexpected twists. The alternating perspectives of the characters enrich the plot, offering a multifaceted view of their intertwined lives.

This novel is both moving and surprising, with moments that will linger long after the final page. It's a testament to McConaghy's skill that she can weave such a compelling tale that resonates on multiple levels.

This was so close to being a 5 star read for me, but the ending nearly ruined it.

The author does such a great job of building suspense and intrigue, something I loved in her previous book. She has twists and turns that I never see coming, and that included the ending, however, for this book, it didn’t pay off.

Overall, I loved the setting, and it feels like its own character, and the narration was fantastic. I’m just going to pretend that it ended the way I wanted.

McConaghy has done it again. Even if you don't think you would want to read a book that teaches you so much about the interconnectedness of nature--you will love it! You will learn through submersion in the setting and through the affinity for the characters and the eloquence of the prose and find yourself absolutely entranced. I would say this is a slow-burn thriller with an eerie quality. It will make you question what me must sacrifice for the next generations, what choices can't be undone, and what bonds create a family. Lots of layers peeled off in the journey to the end. Rounding up from 4.5. The audio is excellent--read by a cast of characters and easy to follow. Thank you to MacMillan Audio and NetGalley for the advanced audio copy and the opportunity to share my review.

4.25 ⭐️

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this ALC!

Charlotte McConaghy does some of my favorite character writing in contemporary literature- they all feel so fleshed out, every emotion and action is believable and relatable.

My only complaint (if you can even call it that) is that the three books I’ve read by this author follow a similar vein. Nature and devastation are always the primary theme/character and while I personally love that I could see it not being for every reader.

The audiobook narration was wonderful although Dom’s character had such a gravely voice that he would switch to an almost cartoonish version for the ‘female’ speaking and it felt a little over performative? I loved all of the other narrators completely and his voice is just a small gripe.

Title: Wild Dark Shore
Author: Charlotte McConaghy
Format: 🎧
Narrators; Cooper Mortlock, Katherine Littrell, Saskia Maarleveld and Steve West
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Genre: Adult Fiction, Nature
Pub Date: March 4, 2025
My Rating: 4 Stars
Pages: 320

Dominic Salt and his three children - eighteen year-old Raff, seventeen year-old Fen, and nine-year-old Orly, are caretakers of the Light House on Shearwater, a tiny island in the Southern Ocean not far from Antarctica, home to the world’s largest seed bank.

With the sea levels rising, the Salts who have lived there for eight years are now the final inhabitants and it is time for them to leave. First they need to finish packing up the seed vault which is kept there.
Then, during the worst storm the island has ever seen, Finn sees a woman washes up on shore. The wind is so strong she needs the help of her dad and older brother Ralf. They nurse the woman named, Rowan, back to health.

Told from the POV of all five individuals mentioned - Grief is a major component of their lives. We know the mom died and the details are reveled. Rowan is looking for her husband.
There is more than just the story of these characters as there is also the story of our environment and climate change-what works and what isn’t working.
There is no doubt the story is intense as well as interesting.

The four narrators- , Cooper Mortlock, Katherine Littrell, Saskia Maarleveld and Steve West; all are excellent and make the story real.
It is difficult for me to say that I found enjoyable, even though I was glued to it. I did enjoy the author’s note as she told us about her research.

The audiobook starts and end with beautiful music. I honestly wished the music would have continued a little while longer while I continued to digest the story.

Want to thank NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this audiobook.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for March 4, 2025.

"I am returned to the sea."

Dominic and his three children live on an island off the coast of Antarctica. It's a life of isolation as all the other scientists have fled the island due to the increased storms and dangerously high sea levels. But Dominic is committed to protecting the seed bank. During a particularly bad storm, his daughter rescues a drowning woman from the sea. But as they learn more about each other they realize their lives are inexplicably connected.

I've never read anything by Charlotte McConaghy, but she is an author I won't miss going forward. What an incredible novel filled to the brim with emotional complexities, raw tension, and desperate isolation. The atmosphere was palpable - there were moments I felt I could feel the rain on my cheeks, the tension of their circumstance. The personal circumstances felt so specific yet universal. McConaghy had me crying over whales and parenthood and water. I left this book feeling so hollow. I live in Colorado and we moved back to CO because we missed the connection to nature. The wonder and the awe of our surroundings. The quiet beauty we had become familiar as our backyard. This book puts the climate crises at the forefront of my mind. Our earth doesn't deserve us or what we do to it. Our trees and oceans and grass and our animals deserve so much better than humans.

This book will stay with me. It was poignant and soft while simultaneously wild and energetic. The mystery was excellently revealed, slowly peeling back the layers that continuously surprised me. It was meticulously slow without lulling. It's hard to discuss the specifics without spoiling anything, so I'll keep it vague. Read this book. Read this for a good story, but read it for empathy for our planet. Read it for the whales. Read it to navigate grief. Read it to inherently love it.

Thank you MacMillian Audio for the gifted copy. This publishes March 4, 2025!

Wild Dark Shore

This was a bit of a wild ride! Somehow the pacing felt a bit slow, but I’m not quite sure how, since So Many Things Happened. I read Once There Were Wolves a few years ago and loved it, so I was really excited to read Charlotte McConaghy’s newest offering. It didn’t quite hit the mark for me as well as Wolves did, but it still manages to encompass some of the most reflective and poetic natural descriptions I’ve ever read (the feature that drew me in with Wolves and kept me).

Wild Dark Shore is at its strongest when it is following the nature – The descriptions of shearwater and its wildlife, the ways that the people are interacting with the land and the animals and the rapidly changing landscape.

This beautiful treatise on nature, grief, and the looming threat of climate change seems to be wearing the plot of a thriller novel as an interesting, but slightly ill-fitting coat. I was fascinated! Not sure it matched the vibe of everything else the book had going on, but it sure was eye-catching. That really is the best way to describe it – the mystery hade so many twists and turns and last-minute insights that it felt like some fancy costume designed to liven up the rest.

I’m not quite sure how well that worked. It worked for me! I enjoyed nearly every minute of it (though I spent many of those minutes ready to scream at these characters that a little clarifying conversation would not in fact actually kill them), but I suspect some readers might want a little more cohesiveness between the main narrative threads.

I listened to this as an audiobook. The narrators did great! I particularly liked the voice of the narrator for Orly’s parts, who did not at all sound like a young boy, but who did have a really engaging voice.

Wild Dark Shore follows a family in charge of the world's largest seed bank in an apocalyptic setting. When a random woman washes ashore on their remote island near Antarctica, mysteries on both sides begin to unravel. I loved the complexity of the main characters, and I felt transported to the setting throughout the novel. I will absolutely be looking into Charlotte McConaghy's backlist after experiencing Wild Dark Shore.

Narration performed by Cooper Mortlock, Katherine Littrell, Saskia Maarleveld, and Steve West was truly outstanding!

I received an ALC from Macmillan Audio via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Wild Dark Shore is a book I have been looking forward to for a long time so I was really excited to get an advanced copy of the audiobook. It is narrated by several narrators which I always enjoy.

This felt like a literary mystery/thriller which is a genre I love! I really liked the alternating POV that added layers to different aspects of the story. The writing was very atmospheric and I could clearly envision the setting.

Like many thrillers, there were some parts I found a little hard to believe but it was still a great read. At one of the twists I actually gasped I was so surprised. It was more of a slow burn but I felt immersed throughout the story.

My only feedback would be that the ending felt a little abrupt to me and I would have liked a little more. Some of the storylines I would have liked fleshed out a bit more as well but overall this was a riveting read that I think most people will enjoy!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc!

Wild Dark Shores
Charlotte McConaghy
Macmillan Audio
Format: Audiobook ARC courtesy of Macmillan Audio
5/5
#MacAudio2025

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and McConaghy for the advanced copy of Wild Dark Shores!

Sigh. I laughed, I cried, and I pondered the hell out of this book. McConaghy absolutely blew me away with this amazing story of a family working on picking up their broken pieces and the woman that they meet who is determined to take her broken pieces and smash them into dust. Taking place in a world mid-fall into an apocalyptic collapse, this story asked what our relationships with others look like, what our relationships with the environment look like, and how we define love and family.
While I initially started this book excited to see what the twist was (and I promise it is excellent and I felt dumb for not seeing it earlier), I ended up forgetting one was coming because I was so wrapped up in the stories of Rowan and the Salt family. Each of the characters were well written and had a lot of nuanced depth to them, making me feel like I really got to befriend them as the book went on. However, Orly will forever have a piece of my heart, say it is because I’m overly emotional because I have a baby boy or something else, but I related to Dom and Row the most because their fierce need to protect him was how I felt throughout the whole book.
Words cannot even begin to explain the wave (haha get it?) of emotion that is still washing over me. I am going to have a major book hangover from this, there were so many elements to love. The writing style was fantastic with multiple points of view and were used well throughout the book. It had a lot of Faulkner's As I Lay Dying vibes to it with the way we experienced everything through multiple character's eyes. I love this style because I feel like it gives such depth to the storytelling.
I highly encourage this book to everyone. I am not an apocalyptic girlie myself (sorry mom), and if I had known that was such a big plot point I probably would have not picked this book up. Honestly, though, it was one of my favorites of the year so far, and was such a beautiful blend of multiple genres. I also highly suggest the audiobook if you're a sucker for Australian accents like me.

Wow—this book was absolutely stunning. I first noticed the cover, then hopped over to Goodreads to check out the blurb. After reading a few reviews, I knew I had to pick this up. The premise immediately intrigued me, touching on several of my favorite topics: scientific research, seed vaults, penguins, whales, seals, solitary islands, and eerie, haunted plotlines.

Every character in Wild Dark Shore was so well-crafted, each carrying their own tragic backstory. I wanted to hold and comfort every single member of the Salt family—and Rowan, too. The island itself felt like a character, its harsh and volatile weather mirroring the emotional turmoil of those who inhabited it. The ghosts in the wind and the overwhelming isolation created an atmosphere reminiscent of Lost, adding to the novel’s immersive, almost cinematic feel.

The mystery surrounding Rowan’s husband, Hank, was masterfully done. I wasn’t entirely sure what had happened to him until the author revealed it toward the end, keeping me engaged and guessing. The imagery throughout the book was both brutal and breathtaking, breaking and mending my heart over and over again.

I also loved the real-world inspiration behind Shearwater. Though fictional, the island is heavily influenced by Macquarie Island, a remote subantarctic landmass. Learning that Charlotte McConaghy and her family had actually visited Macquarie on a research trip before writing this novel made the setting feel even more vivid and authentic.

This was my first book by Charlotte McConaghy, but it definitely won’t be my last—though I might need to pick up something a little lighter first, because this one emotionally wrecked me.

I received an ARC of the audiobook version thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio, and as always, Macmillan delivered a top-tier production. The narrators did an incredible job. At first, I assumed there were only two people voicing multiple characters, but after a quick search, I realized it was actually a full cast—each bringing their respective characters to life. One thing I particularly appreciated was how well each narrator handled voices of the opposite sex without it sounding forced or unnatural. Poorly done narration in this area has caused me to quit many audiobooks in the past, but that wasn’t an issue here at all.

Wild Dark Shore is a breathtaking, atmospheric novel that explores grief, isolation, and the fragile hope of starting over. It’s a story that lingers, both in its beauty and its heartbreak. Thank you again to NetGalley and Macmillan for the opportunity to experience this book—I thoroughly enjoyed it, even if the twists toward the end left me heartbroken.

Wow. When I started listening to this audiobook, I was ready for a beautifully crafted story about an area I don't know much about. I wasn't ready to be so heavily invested in the Salt family, and Rowan, and the seals and the whales and the seeds! It's about family, grief, trauma and healing. It's about the earth and what is happening to it. I've seen others say how this book is a unicorn because of its ability to be a character-driven novel as well as being plot-driven... and it is! There is so much packed in every morsel of this book and it was so beautiful and achingly sad I cannot stop thinking about it. Highly recommend the audio version purely to just lay down, close your eyes, and envision every detail.

Thank you so much NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the privilege of listening to this gorgeous story. Huge thank you to Charlotte McConaghy for creating such a gem.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio for providing me a copy of this audiobook. All opinions are my own.

The Salt Family has lived on this isolated island for 8 years, previously living alongside resident researchers. But with rising sea levels, the researchers have left, and now they are the only humans left on the island. During a storm, a mysterious woman washes up on shore, and no one is giving up their secrets…

Family drama, secrets, mystery, all on an island slowly being taken by the sea; it all made for a gripping and emotional story.

The story was told in multi-POV, so we got to know each character intimately, and I loved seeing their individual connections to the environment and island.

The setting itself was very atmospheric, and definitely felt like a character of its own; dark and mysterious.

The ending definitely took me by surprise, and that’s all I’m going to say about that! 🤐

Overall an engaging, character focused thriller with emotion and mystery.

Audiobook notes: Multicast narration, and they all did a great job!

What this series is giving:
✅ Thriller
✅ Isolated Island near Antarctica
✅ Family
✅ Washed up stranger
✅ Rising Seas
✅ Wildlife
✅ Mystery

Rating:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ / 5

This was my first book by this author, and I’m HOOKED! I will be reading her other books now. What a phenomenal, atmospheric, mysterious story! It was part mystery, part thriller, with a dash of romance. The description of nature in this book was absolutely raw and beautiful. I loved the seals, whales and penguins! I listened to this one on audio, and I didn’t want to put it down. I ended up listening to it in one day. Highly recommend!

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and Netgalley for sending me an early copy of this audiobook! All opinions are my own!

I'm unwell and I'm not sure I'll ever recover from this book. These characters were so raw and real that I disliked them all at first, but then as I got to know them, I understood that they were just reflections of the truth of humanity at its core. They were so special in their own ways, and I loved getting to know them and watch their journeys as they began to understand their own humanity and the fragility of it.

This is not just a book about survival at the end of the world, it's a book about discovering yourself and your place in a world that is more than cruel at the best of times. I loved the journey that these characters took me on and the way they captured my heart.

This is a gritty, hard read, but it was a special one.

Another great book by Charlotte McConaghy. The audio production was excellent with several narrators. The description of the island was so vivid. I loved the characters and their growth. Highly recommend.

Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy is a beautifully written, engaging novel that pulls you in from the moment you read the first page until it leaves you in tears on the last. I fell in love with the characters and setting, and I am always delighted to see my favorite audiobook artist Saskia Maarleveld in the lineup of actors for a novel. Thank you to the author, publisher and Netgalley for an audio ARC of this novel in exchange for my honest review. So good!

⭐️⭐️Review⭐️⭐️
📖 Title: Wild Dark Shore
🧍‍♀️Author: Charlotte McConaghy

About?
This is a story about a father and his three children living on a very remote island near Antarctica called Shearwater. This is a place that once housed many researchers due to it being the world’s largest seed bank. However, everyone is gone except this family as they are the hired caretakers. A storm is brewing and a mysterious woman washes ashore. The family attempts to save her from hypothermia. But the family is struggling with the isolation that has encompassed them as they are alone on the island with still 6 weeks before a boat will come take them back to civilization.

But how did the woman get there? Why is she there? And what will become of the group of them with the sea level slowly rising and the worst storm the island has ever seen?


Makes you feel?

Im going to start with this … this book is hands down my favorite book of 2025 so far. Now I know it’s only February, but I have already read 33 books! And I believe this will be in my top 10 and possibly even 5 of the year.

The writing is richly beautiful and atmospheric. It deals with deep themes exquisitely such as love, grief, motherhood, family, death, and mortality. You will be swept away - first by the authors prose, then by her story. I wholeheartedly recommend this book.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you so much to @Netgalley & @charlottemcConaghy & @flatironbooks for an advanced audible and physical copy in exchange for an honest review.