Description

THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

‘Breathtaking’ HANNAH KENT
‘Spellbinding’ Washington Post
‘A wildly talented writer’ EMILY ST JOHN MANDEL

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.

Publisher Review

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 Shore abounds 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 * * At once a gripping mystery, an exquisitely written ode to the natural world, and a taut, psychological thriller, Wild Dark Shore is a triumph. Charlotte McConaghy is masterful in her ability to show the intricate connections between place and the human heart, and Wild Dark Shore shows her at the height of her powers. Breathtaking -- HANNAH KENT 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 * * Look no further if you're searching for a thriller that reads like top-class literary fiction. Written in sparse, haunting prose, Wild Dark Shore features characters so clearly drawn, you'll feel as if you're stuck on fictional Shearwater Island with them * * Marie Claire * * A suspenseful, rushing read, full of short chapters, emotional twists, and a landscape it's all too easy to sink into and live in. Wild Dark Shore is an exceptional book that hands readers a bittersweet helping of sorrow and joy, sounding a clarifying call towards a symbiotic survival that prioritizes our need to do more than simply subsist: to put trust in each other and in the nature that surrounds us * * Chicago Review of Books * * Riveting . . . McConaghy's descriptions of nature's glory and terror are galvanic, the psychological struggles wrenching, the suspenseful action spectacularly choreographed. McConaghy has attained new heights of intensity and lacerating ecological conviction in this complexly plotted, tragic, and all-consuming tale of the battle to survive * * Booklist (starred review) * * [A] terrific thriller . . . McConaghy keeps readers guessing . . . McConaghy writes about both nature and human frailty with eloquent generosity. Readers won't want to leave behind the imagined world of pain and beauty that McConaghy has conjured * * Kirkus (starred review) * * Urgent . . . McConaghy ratchets up the tension as the characters' paranoia and mutual suspicion increases and their motives are revealed . . . McConaghy blends entertainment with a sobering message about conservation and the impacts of geographic isolation * * Publishers Weekly * * Praise for Once There Were Wolves: Blazing . . . Visceral . . . As McConaghy shows in this stunning book, the limits of language lead us to the limits of empathy * * Los Angeles Times * *