The Wild Beneath
A Novel
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4.1 • 66 Ratings
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
AUGUST 2026 REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK
"If you love immersive, magical stories with unforgettable settings and books that spark great conversations, I think you're really going to love this one." —Reese Witherspoon
“Ethereal. . . . A story that reminds us sometimes the impossible is possible.” —Jodi Picoult, #1 New York Times bestselling author of By Any Other Name
“An entrancing, magical novel that highlights the beauty of the natural world and our fragile place within it. Spellbinding!” —Nita Prose, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Maid
For fans of Wild Dark Shore and Remarkably Bright Creatures, a love story as fierce and mysterious as the sea itself.
Annie MacLeod always knew she was different, growing up on a sailboat in the Pacific Northwest, navigating by the stars and swimming in the ocean. But when a tsunami shatters her world and her parents are swept away, Annie is stranded on land, grief-stricken and forced to confront just how unconventional she is, despite her enduring love for her childhood sweetheart, Evan.
In the wreckage, she rescues a wordless man named Walker, who emits a hum only she can hear. Their connection is instant, elemental. When Walker disappears—along with any explanation he might hold about who she really is—Annie is forced to decide between evacuating with Evan or staying to unlock a secret that feels vital to her survival.
Six years later, Annie has buried the past. But when Walker’s otherworldly sound returns, it forces a reckoning with the wild life she’s left behind. Is the truth of the ocean more powerful than she knows?
The Wild Beneath is a spellbinding story of soulmates, homecoming and the ancient bonds that tie us all to the natural world.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
The past is a vast ocean of bittersweet secrets and forgotten truths in this deeply emotional story. Raised mostly on a sailboat, Annie was always tuned to the rhythms of the ocean, only taking to the shore to spend summers on Vancouver Island with her grandmother Ruth and lifelong friend Evan. But that was before a devastating tsunami swept through the Pacific Northwest. With her parents lost at sea and their community decimated, she meets a mysterious young man named Walker when he washes up naked on the beach. The strange connection Annie has to Walker feels perfectly in line with the highly atmospheric vibe of Kelly Anderson’s lyrical, evocative writing. As the story unfolds, you can sense how Evan’s steady presence grounds Annie on land, while Walker’s mystical strangeness pulls her toward the ocean, where buried truths about her past seem to be rising to the surface. This is a gorgeously complex story of love, grief, and discovering who you are.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
A young seafaring woman comes to terms with her mysterious magical powers in this evocative if tonally unbalanced debut from Anderson. Annie MacLeod grows up sailing with her parents up and down the west coast of North America. The family spends most of their time at sea, but over the course of their spells at home in Hale's Landing, British Columbia, Annie befriends a boy named Evan. When she's 20, the coast is struck by a tsunami. Annie's parents are at sea and disappear. Afterward, Annie finds a naked young man on the beach named Walker, who emits a vibration only she can feel or hear. When they hug, "his skin vibrates hers, almost," and she's "flooded with vivid images" of the deep sea. She and Walker start working on a damaged sailboat, planning to return to sea, and a predictable love triangle develops among Annie, Evan, and Walker. The novel adopts a grimmer tone once the characters leave the village, and the shift feels haphazard. More successful is the painterly evocation of the coastal landscape: "A grayish haze pushes away the night. The sun smudges pink and orange at the horizon." This has some bright spots, but for the most part it's a bit too fuzzy.
