I went in with high expectations after seeing mostly 5 star ratings. I spent the first 80% thinking it was good, but not fully understanding all the hype. And then that ending…wow! It all came together and broke me. This is slow moving, but beautifully written and heavy with emotion, family dynamics, individual demons and guilt. I appreciated the depth and realness of the characters. These characters aren’t stereotypical or obvious. They are human. Complex, strong, weak, broken, and resilient.
Fantastic narrator choices! I could listen to Steve West talk all day.

Warning: Do not listen to the ending while driving 😭. I made this mistake and couldn’t see through my tears.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio (always one of my favorite audio publishers!) for this ARC. This review will be shared on NetGalley and Goodreads.

Pub Date Mar 04 2025

I absolutely inhaled this audiobook. I have been a longtime fan of McConaghy, and Wild Dark Shore solidified that love. This story was incredible and profound. It was tense without being melodramatic. I just loved it.

Following a family living on an isolated island at a research facility dedicated to preserving land and helping the wildlife. As storms in the area begin to worsen, a woman washes ashore who has a mysterious connection to the family. I liked this, but didn’t love it like I thought I would. The setting is fantastic and there’s an interesting mystery to the plot… just some weird character choices and a completely unnecessary romance storyline that didn’t work for me.

what a read 👏🏼 this book takes place on a remote island near antarctica- it's sole purpose was for research and to store one of the world's seed banks. as the sea level is rising the conditions are getting inhospitable. dom and his three children are the last ones on the island- that is until a strange woman washes up on shore barely clinging to life. as she recovers her true identity is revealed and things are not what they appear. i absolutely enjoyed this one. it had me on the edge of my seat and had me constantly guessing what was going to happen next.

I took a chance on Wild Dark Shore based purely on the description and it blew me away. I’m not going to lie, I typically read romance because I need the happily ever after, and I can’t say that this ends on a happy note, and yet this book is about love and the capacity to love someone/thing so much that you would give your life.

I honestly couldn’t stop listening to this story. Firstly, the setting is so vivid; an inhospitable home for researchers, botanists, and the Salt family that live on Shearwater Island off the coast of Tasmania, with the shared goal of preserving a seed bank. At the opening of the book, the sea has churned up a woman in the middle of a storm—the weather is always a character that controls life, whether it is giving or taking. McConaghy creates such a clear picture of Shearwater that I could envision it as if I were there.

Using multiple narrators the reader pieces together what has happened on Shearwater to leave the Salt family alone on this island without communication, preparing to box and pack away seeds from the vault before the island becomes swallowed by the sea. We have the perspective of Dominic Salt, father and island caretaker, and his three children 18 year old Raff, 17 year old Fen, and 9 year old Orly. Rowan, the woman washed upon the shore of Shearwater who is looking for her husband is the other integral narrator. The geniusness of the storytelling is in the secrets that each character keeps. I could not stop listening, wanting to know more and more about each one of them and falling in love with them despite knowing that lies abound. Not only is the storytelling compelling, but the voice actors bring life to each of McConaghy’s islanders. This was a stellar performance by Steve West as Dominic and Saskia Maarleveld as Rowan, but also Cooper Mortlock and Katherine Littrell excellently portray the Salts and a stranger. There is a reason this book is getting a starred review from Kirkus as McConaghy weaves a haunting tale of nature, family, and how communicating with the ones we love can be both challenging and the essence of love. I received an early audio copy from Macmillan. All opinions are my own.

Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Narration: 📣📣📣📣📣
Memorability: 🧠🧠🧠🧠🧠
Compelling Emotional storytelling: 🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱
Tears shed: 💧💧💧

Charlotte McConaghy does it again! Wild Dark Shore is the tale of Dominic Salt and his three children -Raff, Fen, and Orly- who serve as the caretakers of Shearwater, a tiny remote island near Antartica. Shearwater is home to the world's largest seed bank and was once a hub for researchers until rising sea levels began to wash away the island. Now all of the researchers have fled, leaving the Salt family with the task of packing up the seeds to be transported to safety. One stormy night, an injured woman named Rowan washes up on shore. The Salts nurse her back to health and quickly come to love her as one of their own. However, secrets abound. As the truth slowly comes to light, relationships are tested, and Rowan and the Salts must decide whether they trust each other enough to save themselves and the seeds or if the sea will reclaim them all.

I absolutely love McConaghy's writing style and all of the wonderful tidbits of information that she includes in her novels. Wild Dark Shore is a riveting, suspenseful read that kept me on the edge of my seat while also filling me with a greater love and appreciation for nature. The characters are so well-developed, and the descriptions of the setting are just breathtaking. I cannot recommend the audiobook version enough. I loved the cast of narrators, and they really brought the characters to life for me. Wild Dark Shore is all at once thrilling, thought-provoking, and heartbreaking. I only wish that I could read it again for the first time!

<i>"Maybe we will drown or burn or starve one day, but until then we get to choose if we'll add to that destruction or if we will care for each other."</i>

4.5 stars rounded up.

Set on the fictional island of Shearwater, a research island between the coasts of Australia and Antarctica hosting the world's largest seed bank, [author:Charlotte McConaghy|2869149]'s latest work introduces us to the island's caretaker, Dominic Salt, and his three children - eighteen-year-old Raff, seventeen-year-old Fen, and nine-year-old Orly. With no scientists left, they are currently Shearwater's only inhabitants, preparing the seeds from its vault to be picked up and transported to safety amidst rising ocean levels. When a woman, Rowan, is washed ashore in a terrible storm, the Salt family rallies around her and tries to nurse her back to health, unaware that what brought Rowan to Shearwater will lead them to have to confront their own brokenness.

Charlotte McConaghy's outstanding [book:earlier|42121525] [book:works|54860573] are favorites of mine and ensured that I'll always pick up any of her future books, no questions asked. As she has done so magnificently before in those books, the author sets the events in "Wild Dark Shore" against the backdrop of a world in environmental crisis - in this case, climate change and rising ocean levels, which pose the very real and imminent threat of Shearwater being flooded and the seeds safeguarded on it lost. And once again, this is an absolutely genre-defying book: part environmental plea and nature book, part slow-burning thriller, part literary novel exploring, heart-wrenchingly, grief, family, the effects of trauma, and the impossible choices we make to protect the ones we love. "Wild Dark Shores" is character-driven and science-backed, and its story, though often bleak and set in a stark, unforgiving environment, is told in the author's characteristically beautiful, haunting prose.

The only things bothering me were that I personally did not care much for Dominic (as a father or a character), and that the romance angle felt unnecessary and not quite believable, given the characters' backstories. And while the ending was a beautiful arc of character growth, the actual final words felt a little too cliché for an otherwise extraordinary book by an immensely talented author.

Overall, I would highly recommend this book. I listened to the audiobook version of it, which I enjoyed; the production was flawless, and the five narrators were great at voicing the different characters.

<i>Many thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

"Wild Dark Shore" is slated to be released on March 25, 2025.</i>

Thank you to the publisher, author and Netgalley for the ALC.

I have read Charlotte McConaghy's previous two books, but I think this was my favourite of them all so far. I really liked the setting in this one, and the mystery on the island. I loved the characters as well - especially the kids.

The only problem I found with this one was that I did find it a little bit hard to follow at times as an ALC. I found at times the voice actor of the father, Dom, had such a strong accent, I couldn't always understand exactly what was being said and would have to go back and re-listen. I also listened to this over a long period of time because I never had time to listen in large chunks, and that did make it a bit more confusing for me. Both of these are me problems though!

Overall, this book was very well done, and I really enjoyed it. If you liked McConaghy's previous ones, you will definitely like this one!

4.5 stars rounded up.

If you love books where the setting feels like a character, this one’s for you. Sweeping landscapes, turbulent seas, and a protagonist searching for answers in a world that seems determined to break her. McConaghy’s prose is lyrical, immersive, and guaranteed to leave you feeling something long after you turn the last page.

This book is for the wanderers, the dreamers, and anyone who’s ever stared at the horizon and wondered what comes next. Heart-wrenching, beautifully written, and completely unforgettable.

Thank you for the advanced audiobook.. I absolutely love Charlotte McConaghy’s writing and was extremely excited to get the advanced copy. I finished this in one day. Her books are so thought provoking and beautifully written. I loved the multiple narrators. Saskia Maarleveld Is one of my favorite narrators.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the opportunity to listen early in exchange for an honest review.
This was one of my most anticipated releases of 2025 and I'm please to say it did not disappoint! I absolutely loved Migrations and Once There Were Wolves, so this was an auto-buy for me that I pre-ordered as soon as it was up for sale.

Highly recommend for fans of her previous novels. A beautifully written, atmospheric, slow-burn mystery with an environmental science component which discusses grief, family, parenthood, love and nature and our place in it.

It takes place on a very remote, isolated island where caretakers of a seed vault are preparing to pack up and evacuate as rising sea levels make the island an unviable option for storing the seeds.
Many have already evacuated, with just one family remaining (a man and his 3 children). One day a woman washes up out of nowhere on the wild, dark shore of the island nearly dead. The teen daughter pulls her out of the water and they take her in.
All communications are down so they are unable to call anyone to come for her sooner than the prescheduled departure date months away, so until then she gets to know this family who clearly love one another fiercely but (like so many of us) struggle to talk to one another about the things that seem to be weighing so heavily on them. As relationships grow, so do suspicions that everyone is keeping secrets....
Throughout the course of the story, these characters come to open themselves up to caring for someone new while grieving those they've lost and to connect with one another again. It really was a touching story that kept me thinking about it long after I set it down. I absolutely fell in love with all of these characters. Both the writing as well as the excellent audio narration did a great job of creating distinct people in my head.

If you like beautiful writing, slow-burn mystery, found family, atmospheric isolated settings, and/or cli-fi I definitely recommend you pick this one up when it comes out in March.

Charlotte McConaghy again delivers a captivating story with Wild Dark Shore. I love her atmospheric writing, descriptively bringing the place (an island between Tasmania and Antarctica) and characters to vivid life. This is a story about the power of nature, but it's also a mystery. The Salt family are the only remaining residents of this remote island, caretakers of a repository of rare seeds that are threatened by the rising ocean and fierce storms on the island. As they are preparing to leave the island, a woman washes ashore, alive. What happens next will keep you on the edge of your seat. I devoured this book and have become a huge fan of this writer! I listened to the audiobook, and I absolutely loved the narrators.

Actual Rating 3.5

There are five POVs in this work. The dad, his three children, and Rowan, the woman who washed ashore. It wasn't unwieldy despite the higher number of narrators. They had unique voices and offered their own perspective which added to the narrative.

I disliked the romance/attraction part of this work. It's introduced suddenly, leaving me questioning why a woman who almost loses her life searching for her husband would wonder what a random guy's skin tastes like after a handful of days. We're eventually given some reasons to justify this, but it felt like too little too late. This muddied up her motivations for me and added an unnecessary romance. It may not bother most readers though as I do tend to be more harsh with romantic elements than a lot of folks.

The strongest parts of this work was the setting and how well it was incorporated throughout. I also ended up quite liking the ending and the growth that came with it.

If you're looking for a character-driven fiction with a focus on environmental disaster, then you'll enjoy this one. I listened to the audio version of this work, and the narrators did an excellent job. My thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for allowing me to read this work, which will be published March 4, 2025. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley, author Charlotte McConaghy and my friends at Macmillan Audio for gifting me with an audio ALC of McConagy’s newest novel, Wild Dark Shore. In exchange I offer my unbiased review.

Having read and loved both Migrations and Once There Were Wolves, I was ecstatic to be offered a chance to review the author’s newest novel. This book did not disappoint, in fact it might be my favorite from the three. Just like Migrations and Wolves, once again the vivid and memorable landscape, an isolated island off the coast of Australia, is very much a huge part of this gorgeous heart stopping story.

A single father, Dominic Salt and his three children are the lone inhabitants of Shearwater Island, a research site off the coast of Antarctica. Their quiet, sheltered life is upended when an unknown woman washes up on shore holding secrets and searching for answers. And like all good mysteries the Salt Family are keeping secrets of their own.

This book is absolutely stunning. The multicast audio narration is phenomenal. If you enjoy nature writing, climate fiction and contemporary storytelling, definitely pre-order your copy today. Wild Dark Shore is available March 2025.

4.5 stars. I’m still undecided on whether I liked the ending or not; I personally think one character deserved better, but I still found the end moving. That said, I did enjoy getting to know the Salt family (gruff dad, kind but closed-off son, wild daughter, and plant obsessed youngest son) and the mysterious woman who washed up on their beach. It became clear that all of them were keeping secrets, which made for a very compelling read. Things continued to get more chaotic as these secrets started coming to light, all while rising tides made their island less and less hospitable.

The author mentioned viewing the island as a character of its own in the story, and I very much felt that same way as I read. The island is set between Tasmania and Antarctica, and I loved the descriptions of the animals, plants and rugged beauty of the landscape. It was definitely a harsh, dangerous place, but it also offered the characters freedom and a sense of belonging. I felt their pain as they wrestled with potentially being forced to leave the home they love.

Wow! Fantastic thriller set in the wilds of Antarctica. This creative novel was not only a thriller, but a family drama bursting with past trauma and shocking mysteries.

A father and his three children are living in Antarctica alone when a body of a woman washes onto the shore. The Salt family is there protecting seeds that may save the world and protecting their own secrets as well. As the family brings the woman back to health, they discover that she has secrets of her own and may be searching for someone or something.

This novel had captured me from the moment I began reading and it held me on the edge of my seat throughout. Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the Advanced Reader Copy. I have already recommended this book and will continue to suggest this incredible story to by reader friends. #NetGally #WildDarkShore @Macmillan.Audio @MacmillanAudio

Charlotte McConaghy's newest novel is more expansive, tense, and ultimately disturbing as ever.

Dominic Salt is the caretaker of a remote island used for research, and as the home of a vast seed bank. He lives there with his 3 children haunted by the ghost of his late wife. One stormy day, a woman named Rowan washes up on the shore. She begins prying into the personal life of the Salt family, unveiling their secrets while also risking exposing her own. The island quickly becomes uninhabitable due to rising water lines, and Rowan and the Salts race against the clock to save the seeds before a rescue ship arrives in 6 weeks' time.

There's a lot going on here: family drama, a few mystery elements, McConaghy's signature scientific backdrop. There's also a lot of miscommunication and secrecy among the characters used to move the plot forward. This is one of those stories that could have been resolved with a few honest conversations. The tension seemed unnecessary, and overdone. The characters themselves were bizarre, making the oddest choices that ultimately lead to the most of pocket revelations. Their evolution was wildly accelerated for what is supposed to be a novel set over the course of 6 weeks. There's one particular dark story arc between characters that I believe merited more care. The author's attempt to blend genres was unsuccessful in my opinion, and resulted in a book that lost its focus.

An absolutely captivating read. This was fantastic and well-written. I loved her writing style and thought the prose was beautiful. It had a wonderful, unique setting and strong character development. The audio was amazing with a full cast of characters. Every narrator did a spectacular job at their parts and really brought the story to life. My only issue was with the pacing; at times this felt extremely slow.

This is somewhere between climate fiction and thriller, mild suspense and elegy for the natural world. A father and three children live in a lighthouse on a remote island off Australia, the last residents tending a seed bank (based on Macquarie Island). They and (some of) the seeds are being forcibly relocated by rising seawater and melting permafrost, when a woman washes ashore during a storm. She and they are suspicious of each other, even while she bonds with the children. The secrets eventually come to light in a suspenseful and tragic way. Much of the story is filled with descriptions of the island, its wildlife, and climate-driven weather events that threaten everyone's physical and mental well being. It's a microcosm of what we're seeing everywhere - and as such, it's pretty depressing. But beautiful.
The audio is pretty outstanding. The cast of four gives distinct perspectives to Ro, Dom, and Dom's children, which helps keep their individual information siloed and distinct. Each narrator was excellent, but I particularly liked Steve West, who reminds me of an Australian Richard Armitage in a very good way.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ALC!

In August 2021, Charlotte McConaghy captivated me with [book:Once There Were Wolves. In February 2023, she shared a rare glimpse into a research trip for her next novel. Two years later, in February 2025, Wild Dark Shore finally landed in my hands—and it was well worth the wait.

I want to thank the publisher for granting me a digital copy, but I also want to thank McConaghy for continuing to craft complex, deeply human characters and for her understanding of the interconnectedness of our ecosystems. In this novel, she shifts focus from a single species to the future of the planet’s plant life, reinforcing the delicate balance that binds the natural world—and the people who inhabit it.

This is not an easy read. The remote setting and atmospheric tension pull you in, but the novel takes its time unraveling its mysteries. Secrets emerge gradually, and, alongside Rowan, the reader must piece together the past to fully understand Shearwater and its inhabitants. The novel’s emotional weight is undeniable, exploring grief, isolation, and the fragile ties that define family.

One of the most striking moments is the story of the wombats—an exquisite metaphor for the Salts and Rowan at that moment in their journey. By the end, I found myself reflecting on how the Salts truly embody the phrase "salt of the Earth."

Once again, McConaghy has crafted a world that held me spellbound. Once again, she has written a story of grief, which is, at its core, a story of love. And once again, I finished her book in tears. The author’s note on the setting brought everything full circle, a poignant reminder of the dedication and care McConaghy puts into every story she tells.