I was excited to receive this as an ALC! I went in blind and was pleasantly surprised. The isolation was reminiscent of The Great Alone.

This book feels like a love letter to a harsh landscape: "profoundly remote yet bursting with life". It is a love story and a story of the love of family.

As I mentioned before, this book constantly reminds you of the isolating setting. All the characters were mysterious, feeling each other out and hiding truths. While reading, I kept writing down questions. Thankfully, all my questions got answered, in surprising ways.

We get to see multiple POVs, and that ending--wow! I don't know how to feel.

This review will be posted on my booksta, toomanyfivestarreads, soon.

The full cast audio was phenomenal. At times the scientific element was too much for me to follow, but the character development brought me right back in. What a wild ride. Thanks NetGalley!

This book was amazing! I loved the writing and the storytelling by this author. Such a creative story on something so unique!

I went into this book knowing nothing about it and I dare say, that lack of knowledge made for an even more enjoyable read. I requested this book at the advice of a bookstagrammer and when he says it's going to be on everyone top ten lists, I listen and get my hands on it. And I agree with him. It tells the story of the Salt family, basically marooned on a remote island near Antarctica, with secrets to hide and tragedy to grieve. Then Rowan washes ashore, nearly dead from a boat wreck. And the secrets are difficult to keep hidden but the grieving process is eased by her presence. Love, love, loved it and I am excited to see how it fares with books released later in the year.

ah, i love a full cast narration audiobook. if you're interested, i think the audiobook is highly worth your time for that reason. dom's narration was especially good, capturing the growly, grizzled voice of a man who has Been Through It.

so here we are with dom's family on an island near antarctica. his three kids are raff, fen, and orly, each grappling with different things. for raff, it's heartbreak. for fen, she's seventeen and has a secret that could tear everything apart, and orly just loves the world and its wonders and wants to learn more as it appears to be dying all around him.

yes, there are rising seas and burning forests. their little island is a repository for seeds, a place that they all may be preserved for a future world, a better world, a world after the destruction of climate change. they each have their chores and duties, a monotonous, day-to-day tedium of packing up the seeds before moving off the island before it's overcome by the sea. nothing much changes until it does. nothing much changes until they pull a half-dead woman out of the sea.

her name is rowan and she's come to the island to find her husband, who radioed for help. rowan can't let dom know the true reasons for arrival, suspicious that he may have had something to do with it.

this is ultimately a book about grief - grief for the world and nature, of the people that we lose, the pre-eminent grief of seeing things that we love gradually fading away, grief of those we thought we knew. we see this through rowan's telling of her home which went up in flames, of dom's vision of his dead wife who was lost to childbirth, of fen's loss of innocence, of raff's loss of love, and orly's loss of the future. but the main takeaway for me from this is that death happens and it's unavoidable, but life happens too. and i thought that was really beautiful.

TW: animal death, statutory rape of a minor, death, not super graphic violence against minors.

I may come to edit this review with time, but….

I just finished and I have so many feelings. I have questions, while also not caring because I feel like it took forever to pick up. But then while it took forever to pick up, once it did it was actually good.

I didn’t like the characters, but then did. I didn’t see things coming, didn’t like some scenes and thought the dad was insane.

But in the end. I’m so so torn. & does that make
It a great book ? I am giving this 3.5 stars for now. I want a 3, but think it should be a 4 phew.

This was such an atmospheric read! The story captivated me. It was such a unique storyline. Even though the nature writing was so new to me and taught me so much, I did not feel that it took away from the rest of the plot, at all. This was a very character driven story, which I usually stay away from, but this one was so well done, that it was actually one of my favorite aspects. I still can’t get over the ending. Oh my word. Read this one for sure!!!!!!

Lyrical and atmospheric, Wild Dark Shore drew me in and captivated me for its duration. I felt deeply for the characters, especially the siblings of this story, and was transported to Shearwater by the prose. It was as though I could feel and smell and hear the island all around me. Perhaps fittingly, given the walls that each character had up — with good reason — I had a feeling of them staying at arm’s length, even from me as a reader; even while reading narration from each of their respective points of view. This was the one piece that didn’t completely connect for me, though I still loved the book. I found the themes thought-provoking, and the plot and pacing consistently engaging — I just didn’t fall completely in love.

This haunting, character-driven novel didn’t seem initially like it would interest me, but I’d seen some early hype for it and was curious. I’m glad I didn’t pass on it. Desperately emotional and reflective, I kept finding myself drawn back to these characters, their struggles, and the mystery surrounding it all. The vividly described setting is dark and wild and a character of its own.

I listened to the audiobook of this novel, and I’m pretty picky about audiobooks. This is beautifully written and beautifully narrated by a wonderful cast.

This book is out now and is a captivating look at human nature and what it takes to relate to one another.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you NetGALLEY and Flatiron Books for an advanced copy of " Wild Dark Shore" . Charlotte McConaghy is one of my favorite authors and I love how each of her novels is a love letter not only to nature and how humans are the reason our planet is suffering, in addition to focusing on the deep bond between parents and their children. This novel focuses on a father and his three children who are on an isolated island helping with scientific research. When an unconscious woman washes ashore barely alive, they are confused not only how she got there, but how she survived. We soon find out that not everything and everyone on this island are as innocent as they appear to be. Her last novel, " Once there Were Wolves" is one of my favorite books of all time, and in my opinion nothing can compare, but this novel was a close second. Her prose is so beautiful, and she reminds the reader to love not only one another, but our planet as well.

Another Charlotte McConaghy book that I devoured. This book has incredible descriptive nature writing, it was very character driven but also the plot kept moving. I was emotionally invested in this one. Tears were shed. Overall a beautiful book. I like the combination of danger and thrills, with all sort of environmental biology weaved throughout. Deep relationship building and a bit of history in the mix. I really enjoy her storytelling. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

I can’t believe how perfectly the audiobook narrators were paired with their characters. The narrators were superb. The story was exceptional. An easy five stars.

Charlotte McConaghy never misses. This was a beautiful, devastating, heartwrenching book. Absolutely unput-downable. I listen in the shower, in the car, at the gym. I am in love with the story she crafted, the characters she created, and I was on the edge of my seat the entire time.

I was completely captivated by Wild Dark Shores. From the very first page, the book pulled me into its mysterious, windswept world, where beauty and danger coexist in perfect balance. The setting was breathtaking—isolated and untamed, filled with fur seals, penguins, whales, and birds that made the landscape feel alive. Even more than that, the ocean itself felt like a character, its vast, powerful presence shaping the lives of those who lived beside it.

At its heart, this was a beautiful, emotional story about grief and redemption, about the sacrifices we make for our children and how they have the power to change us in ways we never imagined—even if they aren’t our biological children. The characters’ journeys were deeply moving as they navigated loss, love, and the weight of the past. Their struggles with grief felt raw and real, and there were moments that absolutely broke me. This book had me in tears. More than just a tale of survival, it was a tribute to the interconnectedness of nature and humans—how the wild world shapes us, and how we, in turn, leave our mark on it.

And then there were the secrets. So many secrets. I spent the entire book trying to piece together the characters’ hidden pasts, convinced I could figure it all out before the truth was revealed—only to fail miserably. Just when I thought I had something figured out, the story twisted in a way I never saw coming. And that final plot twist? Absolutely jaw-dropping.

Wild Dark Shores was haunting, heartfelt, and impossible to put down. If you love atmospheric, deeply emotional stories with mystery at their core, I can’t recommend this one enough. It’s the kind of book that lingers long after you’ve finished the last page.

ARC was provided by the p

Dominic Salt lives on the island of Shearwater with his three children. Shearwater is near the Antarctica and is home to the worlds largest seed bank. Dominic has noticed that the sea levels are rising and his number one priorities are the safety of his children. A few months ago all of the other researchers have left the island and only four members were left to finish the project of protecting the seed bank. Now a boat has washed a shore of Shearwater and with it comes the mystery of why Rowan is on the island. She is severly injured and is being nursed by the Salt family. The more time she spends with them the more Rowan thinks there is something that they are all keeping from her. This is a book about secrets, love, and betrayal what you would do to protect the ones that you care the most for. I would like to thank both NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for letting me listen to an advanced copy of this audiobook.

life changing book. imagine an isolated island by Antarctica... a woman washes ashore, bruised and battered. this island also houses a mass storage center for all the seeds of various plants around the world. the characters of this book are so likable. the plot is totally different and innovative. cannot recommend this book enough.

A fantastic, compelling, suspenseful story. The writing sets the perfect, atmospheric tone from beginning to end. Loved the environmental themes of the seed vault, sea life and climate change. The characters all had interesting arcs- would have preferred a slightly different ending, but can’t argue with the well-written conclusion. The audiobook narration was perfectly brooding.
Thank you #Netgalley for the ARC audiobook!

I enjoyed this book a lot, but I didn't quite love it as so many other reviewers did. It started off a bit slow, but then it picked up the pace with several unexpected twists. This genre-bending novel was atmospheric, suspenseful, and thought-provoking. The author's vivid, beautiful writing pulled me into the remote and claustrophobic island of Shearwater. I listened to the audiobook narrated by Cooper Mortlock, Katherine Littrell, Saskia Maarleveld, and Steve West. I think I would have preferred to have a physical copy because the alternating perspectives and timelines became confusing. The narrators were very good, though, and I enjoyed listening to their storytelling. I especially loved Orly, who never failed to make me smile. The full-cast narration really made the story come to life, and the narrators did such a great job building tension and suspense.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the gifted ALC.

I don’t want to spoil any of the plot because I went into this not knowing it and THAT’S THE WAY I LIKE IT!! Just know you are going to get a stunning landscape, beautiful prose, lovable characters with great character development, and a story that will stick with you.

Also you’ll be obsessed with Orly and I feel like the audio makes him all the more lovable somehow. The audio was fantastic and the narrators perfectly matched their characters.

HUGE thank you to NetGalley and publishers for the audio ARC!!!

What an interesting premise! A researcher and his family are working on a remote island near Australia when a stranger washes up on their shore. Shrouded in mystery, the story takes some unexpected turns that tug at the heartstrings and delve into dark themes.

Thank you, Charlotte McConaghy, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley, for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this audiobook! The sound quality was excellent. The narrators, Cooper Mortlock, Katherine Littrell, Saskia Maarleveld, and Steve West, did a great job bringing the characters to life. I enjoy when different narrators voice the different characters’ point of view chapters.