Wild Dark Shore
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4.1 • 397 Ratings
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK
This program features multicast narration.
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • #1 AMAZON BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR SO FAR 2025
An ENTHRALLING new novel from the NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING author of Migrations and Once There Were Wolves
"A WILDLY TALENTED writer." ―Emily St. John Mandel
“SPELLBINDING...Exceptionally imagined, thoroughly humane.” —Washington Post
“Abounds with EVOCATIVE nature writing.” —The New York Times Book Review
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. Until, during the worst storm the island has ever seen, a woman mysteriously washes ashore.
Isolation has taken its toll on the Salts, but as they nurse the woman, Rowan, back to strength, it begins to feel like she might just be what they need. Rowan, long accustomed to protecting herself, starts imagining a future where she could belong to someone again.
But Rowan isn’t telling the whole truth about why she set out for Shearwater. And when she discovers sabotaged radios and a freshly dug grave, she realizes Dominic is keeping his own secrets. As the storms on Shearwater gather force, they all 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.
A novel of breathtaking twists, dizzying beauty, and ferocious love, Wild Dark Shore is about the impossible choices we make to protect the people we love, even as the world around us disappears.
"This contemplative, heart-wrenching story is a unique and engaging listening experience made even more vibrant by its narration.” —Bookpage (Starred Review)
"The ensemble narration brings this intense story to life.” —AudioFile
A Macmillan Audio production from Flatiron Books.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
When a strange woman washes up on their isolated island, a family is forced to face its deepest issues in this lush literary thriller. Widower Dominic Salt and his three bereft children are preparing to leave their lonely island near Antarctica, where they’ve been caretakers to a vital global seed reserve. But when a woman named Rowan washes ashore, she realizes that the Salts’ story isn’t quite as straightforward as they present it—and the Salts soon discover Rowan has secrets of her own too. Mixing climate science with the moody atmospherics of a gothic thriller, Charlotte McConaghy creates a profoundly moving work of psychological suspense. A full cast of narrators portrays the novel’s ensemble of characters through chapters in their own points of view, creating an immersive experience that we quickly sank into. Listening to Wild Dark Shore sometimes had us in tears, even as we grappled with the mysteries at its core.
Customer Reviews
I recommend it!
The eerily remote, nearly Antarctic island made for a dramatic and frightening backdrop adding extra drama to this complex and highly engaging story. My favorite part was the reading the details of profound love amongst the family living in the middle of nowhere after the tragic death of their wife/mother. And their equally profound love for the plants and animals around them. It’s a fantastic twisty ending !
Worst Read of the year
I’ve heard great things about this book, but it was not for me. I couldn’t picture in my mind the place they were at, or understand what was the main plot of the story. The only reason I gave it 2 stars it’s because I really liked Dom’s unconditional love for his 3 kids, but other than that it just didn’t make sense to me that fact that the main character Rowan went all the way to this island in the middle of nowhere looking for her husband which clearly she didn’t have a good relationship with to begin with, called him a narcissist but still risked her life to go rescue him but get involved with Dom while trying to rescue her husband. The whole thing didn’t make sense to me. And trust me, I wanted to love this story like all the people who gave it a 5 star.
Horrible ending!!!
I was all in til the end. Absolutely terrible. Very disappointing.