WILD DARK SHORE
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,
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.
- Flatiron
- Hardcover
- March 2025
- 320 Pages
- 9781250827951
Buy the Book
$28.99
About Charlotte McConaghy
Charlotte McConaghy is the New York Times bestselling author of the novels Wild Dark Shore, Once There Were Wolves, and Migrations, which are being translated into more than twenty languages. She is based in Sydney, Australia.
Praise
Instant New York Times Bestseller
Instant Indie Bestseller
Instant USA Today Bestseller
Instant Washington Post Bestseller
Instant Los Angeles Times Bestseller
#1 IndieNext Pick
A Book of the Month Club Selection
A New York Times Book Review Book Club Pick
A Reader’s Digest Book Club Pick
“Spellbinding…Captivating…McConaghy keeps the novel moving at a blustery pace, thanks to her deft plotting and shared point of view…To read this exceptionally imagined, thoroughly humane novel feels like following the last people on Earth as they prepare to leave some part of their souls to the most beautiful place they’ll ever know.” —Washington Post
“Vivid…Moving…Wild Dark Shoreabounds with evocative nature writing…We’re shown why a person might withdraw from the messiness of life after tragedy and trauma…The novel also offers its injured characters a path back to connection and community, a risk McConaghy argues must be worth taking, no matter how fraught the future.” —The New York Times Book Review
“A gripping tale…With a breathtaking setting and characters you’ll love, Wild Dark Shore is a suspenseful and moving must-read.” —Reader’s Digest
Discussion Questions
RGC Discussion Questions for Wild Dark Shore
1. The novel is told from the perspectives of multiple characters. Did you feel more aligned with one character’s perspective over the others? Why do you think the author chose to structure the narrative this way? Why include a single chapter from Alex, a character the reader never meets alive?
2. The Global Seed Vault in Svalbard, Norway is a real place and serves as a central setting in the novel. What are your thoughts on the author choosing this as a setting? How did knowing the vault exists in real life impact your reading of the novel (whether you learned that before or after)?
3. Several characters wrestle with feelings of futility in the face of ecological collapse. Rowan, in particular, believes early in the book that there can be no good ending. Do you think the book offers a hopeful or bleak outlook? How do you personally respond to the idea that individual actions may not prevent large-scale consequences?
4. Throughout the novel, characters experience visions, voices, and presences that blur the lines between hallucination, memory, and belief. Orly speaks to the wind; Dom talks to his dead wife; others sense or see people who aren’t there. At the same time, someone is actually locked away below ground. How did these moments impact your sense of what’s real within the story? Do you think the novel suggests these experiences are psychological, spiritual, or something else entirely? What do they reveal about grief and guilt and connection?
5. Trust between individuals and in institutions is a recurring tension. Which characters struggle most with trust? (Consider Dom’s grief, Fen’s shame, Raff’s guilt.) How does the story explore the risks and rewards of choosing to trust someone? What did you find most heartbreaking about a character’s hesitation or vulnerability in trying to trust?
6. Many of the characters choose to be physically and emotionally isolated. How does the book portray isolation as both a danger and a refuge? In what ways does isolation change the characters?
7. After his wife’s death, Dom chose to move with his children to this remote island. How did you accept this choice he made for his children’s lives? In what ways did the children cope, adapt, or even thrive in this new environment? How does their experience compare to Rowan’s own unconventional childhood living on a boat, a life also shaped by her parents’ choices?
8. In moments of collapse or survival, how people choose to live becomes a major focus. Which characters’ choices surprised you the most? What would you prioritize or value in a similar situation?
9. This book is a strong example of “cli-fi” (climate fiction). How effective is fiction in helping us emotionally process and understand climate change? Did this novel change or deepen your perspective on environmental issues?
10. Building on question 9: The novel weaves science, emotion, and activism through deeply personal narratives. Do you think this kind of storytelling is more powerful than scientific or journalistic accounts of ecological crisis?
11. How did you feel about the ending? Did it bring you closure, or leave you with more questions? In what ways did the ending reinforce or challenge the story’s core themes?