This was okay. Many of the characters felt one dimensional and the plot wasn’t quite as mysterious as I’d hoped it to be. I also don’t think the dystopian element really sold itself.

Thanks to Libro.fm and NetGalley for the ALC!

Wow.... This book is so beautiful. Charlotte McConaghy is so amazing at writing atmospheric novels that make you think and this is no exception. The character growth really stands out in this book and the ending was so moving. What a great read!

This was my first novel by McConaghy and it won't be my last. This book was so atmospheric and lyrical, I was drawn from the very first line. The story follows multiple points of view of people inhabiting an island off the coast of Australia; a fictional island with the world's largest seed vault (think: the seed vault on Svalbard). I would call this literary fiction, but also climate fiction, in which one of the main themes of this story is the impeding climate disaster of the island eroding into the ocean, where the seeds will be lost at sea. Some flora wiped entirely from existence. This is a story of survival, grief, love, and finding your purpose, all with an eerie backdrop of an untamable, doomed island, and those who love it. I read the audiobook, thanks to NetGalley, and highly recommend it. Thank you to the author and publisher for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this novel. I cannot wait to read more from this author. 5/5 stars!

<i> A family on a remote island. A mysterious woman washed ashore. A rising storm on the horizon.

Dominic Salt and his three children are caretakers of Shearwater, a tiny island not far from Antarctica. Home to the world’s largest seed bank, Shearwater was once full of researchers. But with sea levels rising, the Salts are now its final inhabitants, packing up the seeds before they are transported to safer ground. Despite the wild beauty of life here, isolation has taken its toll on the Salts. Raff, eighteen and suffering his first heartbreak, can only find relief at his punching bag; Fen, seventeen, has started spending her nights on the beach among the seals; nine-year-old Orly, obsessed with botany, fears the loss of his beloved natural world; and Dominic can’t stop turning back toward the past, and the loss that drove the family to Shearwater in the first place.

Then, during the worst storm the island has ever seen, a woman washes up on shore. As the Salts nurse the woman, Rowan, back to life, their suspicion gives way to affection, and they finally begin to feel like a family again. Rowan, long accustomed to protecting her heart, begins to fall for the Salts, too. But Rowan isn’t telling the whole truth about why she set out for Shearwater. And when she discovers the sabotaged radios and a freshly dug grave, she realizes Dominic is keeping his own dark secrets. As the storms on Shearwater gather force, the characters must decide if they can trust each other enough to protect the precious seeds in their care before it’s too late—and if they can finally put the tragedies of the past behind them to create something new, together. </i>

Wild Dark Shore is a beautifully written story. I felt slightly removed from the characters, and thus not able to connect as deeply with the story as I’d hoped, but it was still a worthwhile read.

Cooper Mortlock, Katherine Littrel, Saskia Maarleveld, and Steve West did an excellent job narrating the audiobook.

Thank you Charlotte McConagh, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley for providing this ARC for review consideration. All opinions expressed are my own.

We shared this on an episode of our podcast and gave it nothing but 5 stars! Beautiful and haunting.

I loved Charlotte McConaghy’s first two novels, so Wild Dark Shore was one of my most highly anticipated books of 2025. This year, my reading has unfortunately taken a backseat to other things in my life, so despite receiving a galley audiobook at the start of the year (thank you Macmillan Audio!), I didn’t manage to listen to it until two months after its release. But in that time, I’ve observed with pleasure how McConaghy has appeared to gain real traction on bookstagram — my expectations heightened as I realized Wild Dark Shore appeared to be the author’s most popular book yet.

Wild Dark Shore includes a number of the same elements that I loved in McConaghy’s Migrations and Once There Were Wolves. Her eco-fiction is set in the near future, highlighting imminent climate volatility and environmental risk. Her books fuse literary fiction with genre writing, a refreshing combination that has the effect of making her books page turners. And McConaghy’s nature writing is always vivid and sparks my curiosity about the natural world.

A couple chapters in, I was fully enjoying Wild Dark Shore. I was invested in the main character’s initial shipwreck. I loved the setting of an Antarctic island housing one of the world’s seed banks, and the premise of a family tasked with safeguarding it. But around the 1/3 mark, my experience started to tank.

Wild Dark Shore contains more narrators and more soap-opera-esque plot twists than McConaghy’s prior novels, and ultimately I feel like she tried to cram too much into one story. This likely contributed to my failure to connect with the two main protagonists and my feeling that certain key plot and character developments were not emotionally credible.

However, what bothered me the most was Wild Dark Shore’s portrayal of motherhood and a mother’s sacrifice as a woman’s highest purpose. Maybe my bias as a child-free woman in JD Vance’s America is coloring my reaction to this book (because in large part the U.S. relies on women’s sacrifice instead of providing its citizens with a social safety net), but FFS, I think women have sacrificed enough. Instead, I would love to consume media emphasizing women’s ambitions or women setting healthy boundaries. It’s interesting because a couple of bookstagrammers have commented that Once There Wolves’ contained even more heavy handed messaging on motherhood than WDS, and I simply don’t recall registering that. I may have to revisit.

Even though I found McConaghy’s third book deeply disappointing, I did appreciate that (similar to Sally Rooney’s Beautiful World Where Are You), Wild Dark Shore grapples with the very relevant question of how to raise children in a deeply unsettled world (something I think about a lot). Notwithstanding my critical review, I am looking forward to McConaghy’s next novel.

Lastly, I want to acknowledge that the audiobook narrators did a terrific job— especially Steve West as Dominic Salt. Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the audiobook galley!

Wild Dark Shore is a hauntingly beautiful read that pulled me in from the first page. The atmosphere is rich and eerie, with a coastal setting that feels alive and full of secrets. I connected deeply with the characters, especially as their emotional layers slowly unfolded. Perfect for readers who love gothic suspense with a literary edge—I couldn’t put it down.

Multiple narratives do a phenomenal job of bringing this audiobook to life and making it unputdownable. I liked that each character had their own narrator. A father and his three children are living by themselves on a remote island close to Antarctica when a strange woman washes ashore and integrates herself into their lives. The mysterious circumstances of her arrival come into question and the family must come together to face demons both past and present, some of which prove to be destructive.

This is a mystery/suspense, as well as a fascinating character study, with the main character actually being the remote, inhospitable island. The descriptions of the climate and landscape drew me in and captivated me. Each of the human characters brings their own perspective and flaws, creating a tension, the cause of which simmers until the end when all is revealed. This is a unique and profoundly deep story that will appeal to a wide array of readers.

This book started off strong for me with the mystery and background information. Then I felt like some of the characters were not needed to tell the story, and I got lost with the goal of the book.

Having read "Once There Were Wolves" by Charlotte McConaghy, I was very excited to receive this ARC. I enjoyed OTWW a bit more than this one, but also liked this book. There were some predictable areas and I didn't care for the ending, but I understand why the author wrote it this way. She is a great character builder and makes you genuinely care about the story she's telling and people she's writing.

Mysterious, engaging, and emotionally complex. I don't often listen to novels because I find it difficult to keep up with the story if I zone out for a second. I did NOT have that problem with this book. I was engaged the whole time and I LOVED having the full cast of narrators. This was my first book by this author, but I will be adding her to my auto-read list.

Thank you to NetGalley & Macmillan Audio for a review copy of this book

Another Favourite by this author, I can not wait to revisit this book a little later this year. I found the story to be captivating from the first sentence

I have read and loved every one of this author’s books. She’s a master at blending eco fiction and mystery. This book was slower paced and character driven yet was incredibly suspenseful. The characters were fully developed and I found myself pulled into the narrative.

The story took place on a northern remote island near Australia full of marine animals including seals, penguins and whales. It was a beautiful setting in which I loved spending time. Yet, there was also despair due to global warming. Floods, fires and other natural disasters had led to the destruction of plants and animals across the world. This island was a biological research station where plant seeds were being kept to help keep species alive. However, when a woman washes up on the beach, battered yet still alive, a man and his three children inhabiting the island take her in and help her heal. As she recovers, she realizes that there are no other people on the island except them four. All of the other researchers are gone. The radio equipment is destroyed. And both she and the others are keeping secrets.

This was a story full of descriptive prose and thoughtful analysis. It broke my heart but also made me feel many powerful emotions. The audiobook performance was terrific with different narrators playing the various character perspectives. Saskia is one of my favourite narrators and I adored her performance in particular.

A gracious thank you to #MacMillanAudio and #NetGalley for an audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Isolation. Grief. Secrets. Choices...

"Wild Dark Shore" is set on Shearwater Island, a research station and the world’s largest seed bank, between Tasmania and Antarctica. With sea levels rising, the research has ended, and it feels like the island is sinking.

Dominic Salt and his three children are the island's final caretakers. They seem broken, yet loving and committed to one another. Then, during a violent storm, a mysterious woman washes ashore, who also appears broken...

"Wild Dark Shore" is a contrast of emotions. It is beautiful and moving, surrounded by the island's lush vegetation, sea life, and each character's innate love of nature. Yet it is horrifying and gripping concerning the progressively dangerous storms and the churning, rising ocean. The atmosphere feels peaceful and welcoming, while becoming increasingly threatening and dangerous.

As an immersion read, I am mesmerized by McConaghy's gorgeous prose and storytelling. The audiobook's multicast narrations bring the characters to life and deliver unique and emotional recountings in shifting perspectives. The audiobook is an unforgettable experience and my preferred format.

"Wild Dark Shore" is the first book I have read by McConaghy, and I wonder why I waited so long to experience her talent. This story was a layered, complex, and visual experience from beginning to end.

5⭐

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and Charlotte McConaghy for the gifted ALC through NetGalley. This is my honest and voluntary review.

I have to admit...I wasn't sure about this book after reading the premise. However, I saw many people reading this and heard good reviews so I decided to give it a try. Thank you to @macmillanaudio for the book!

With the many different viewpoints in this book (I counted 6), the various voices and narrators helped distinguish each. I had a harder time understanding Dominic's thick accent but eventually got used to it.

Mrs. McConaghy has a fan in me and I will try be reading her other books this year as well!

𝗪𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝗗𝗮𝗿𝗸 𝗦𝗵𝗼𝗿𝗲 was one of my most anticipated books of 2025. I absolutely loved the author’s earlier books and, like those, this story mixes romance and mystery with a focus on nature.

The fictional setting of Shearwater is inspired by the real Macquarie Island, located between Tasmania and Antarctica, and the seed vault that the Salt family is watching over is based on the one in Svalbard, in the Norwegian archipelago. It is obvious that extensive research went into this book, and while it wasn’t as compelling for me as the author’s earlier books, I still enjoyed the story.

It's part thriller about climate change, part mystery, and part literary fiction. It also includes nature writing from the researchers' work, creating a story that explores themes of grief, loss, and love.

The different audiobook narrators especially Steve West did a great job bringing this slow, dark story to life for me.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio for my complimentary audiobook. All opinions are my own.

I enjoyed the suspense and pace of the book and liked that the characters were not making the most ideal decisions. Each character was finely crafted with distinct personalities, back stories, and how they lived was so out of the ordinary that it was fun to read. I thought the story developed nicely and had a few interesting turns to keep it suspenseful. I've recommended it many times in our store both in audio and book form.

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

Charlotte McConaghy, Wild Dark Shore

I know a lot of people have already read and recommended this one, so I’ll keep my comments brief. This book completely swept me away! (Pun intended.) Part eco-fiction, part mystery, part literary fiction, it explores grief, love, and climate change while beautifully capturing the tension between our deep connection to nature and its power to both sustain and destroy us. The remote island setting isn’t just a backdrop—it’s a force of its own, shaping the characters as much as the elements threaten them.

McConaghy’s writing is raw and immersive, making this a haunting and thought-provoking read. Special thanks to Macmillan Audio for the complimentary audiobook—its multicast narration was phenomenal. I can already tell this one will linger with me for a while. Easily one of my top read/listens of the year!

All the freaking stars!!! The audio was brilliant, but I loved listening while following along the most. Such an amazing story. These characters. This island. Forever will think about them!

Wild Dark Shore is a quiet, contemplative novel. Set on a fictional island near Antarctica called Shearwater, it’s about a father and his three children, the Salt family, who left behind a family tragedy on the mainland, finding solace in caring for this wild, remote place and the seedbank housed there. Shearwater was once a vibrant research station, but now, with sea levels rising and storms becoming more frequent, it’s being shut down, and the Salt family are the last inhabitants, responsible for packing up the seeds for shipment to a more secure location. But then one of the storms washes a mysterious woman ashore, sending reverberations through the entire family. Will this woman be the Salt family’s salvation or their destruction? And what truths about Shearwater and its final residents will come to light with her arrival?

Wild Dark Shore is a character-driven family drama set on the brink of climate disaster, a cautionary tale, an ode to the natural world, and a literary mystery all at once. However, these pieces don’t always work in complete harmony in the narrative. Although the book unfolds across several perspectives, I never really felt like I got to know any of the characters in a meaningful way. They felt distant and one-dimensional to me – a series of traits rather than actual people – and the romance plotline just seemed strange, given all of the distrust and suspicion on both sides. The passages explaining the history of several of the vault’s seeds didn’t always connect back to the story the way I think Charlotte McConaghy wanted them to, so they didn’t serve to do much other than take me out of the book’s flow. And the book keeps coming back to its central mystery, which is revealed in the final act in a way that didn’t make a lot of sense to me – never mind the fact that things could’ve been resolved much earlier, if the characters would have just had one (albeit difficult) conversation. One aspect of the conclusion seemed unearned and emotionally manipulative, rather than organic to the rest of the story.

McConaghy’s writing is absolutely gorgeous, so evocative and atmospheric as she brings the island of Shearwater to life. Wild Dark Shore is definitely a book that honors the natural world, and there is a scene involving whales that is so perfectly done it gave me chills. The book is at its best when it’s focused on its introspective themes of family and belonging, healing from trauma, the importance of conservation, and the endurance of the human spirit. The audiobook production is high, but I have to admit that I didn’t enjoy all of the narrators. Please take my opinion with a grain of salt (pun intended) because lots of people are loving this one. Ultimately, it just didn’t end up aligning with my expectations. Thank you to Macmillan Audio for the complimentary listening opportunity.