Wild Dark Shore
Longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2026
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4.5 • 107 Ratings
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- £5.99
Publisher Description
LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2026
THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
A REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK
A TIME MUST-READ OF 2025
LONGLISTED FOR THE CARNEGIE MEDAL
'I am in awe. I am in love. I am heartbroken. All of it possible, all at once, after a book as extraordinary as this one' CLARE DAVERLEY
'Breathtaking' HANNAH KENT
'Spellbinding' Washington Post
'Had me gripped from the very first page' RACHEL JOYCE
A family on a remote island. A mysterious woman washed ashore. A storm gathering force.
Dominic Salt and his three children are caretakers of Shearwater, a tiny weather-lashed island that is home to the world’s largest seed bank. As Shearwater risks being lost to rising sea levels, the island’s researchers have fled, and only the Salts remain.
Until, during the worst storm in living memory, a stranger washes ashore. The family nurse the woman, Rowan, back to strength, but it seems she isn’t telling the whole truth about why she’s there. And when Rowan stumbles upon sabotaged radios and a recently dug grave, she realises that she’s not the only one on the island with a secret.
A novel of breathtaking twists and dizzying beauty, Wild Dark Shore is about the impossible choices we make to protect the people we love.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
In Wild Dark Shore, a family unit living on a remote Antarctic island must endure tests of trust and deception. After Shearwater is pummeled by a violent storm, its only remaining inhabitants reluctantly welcome newcomer Rowan, a woman who washes up on shore one day. The Salts have been tasked with relocating the world’s largest seed bank as the climate crisis makes the island increasingly untenable; however, the sudden arrival of Rowan threatens their longstanding family dynamics. With each chapter told by a different narrator—alternating between the three Salt children, their father Dominic and Rowan—Wild Dark Shore is a probing psychological thriller set against the extreme harshness of nature. Award-winning Sydney author Charlotte McConaghy knows exactly how to employ plot twists without losing sight of her story's close-knit characters and their high personal stakes.
Customer Reviews
What a ride!
Amazing story, kept me up late at night because I couldn’t put it down! 100% recommending it to all my friends and family!
Just Extraordinary!
It’s been over two months since I finished this book and I’m still thinking of the characters. And the setting. And the writing. Just one of those books that grips you and stays with you. Just extraordinary