This was my book of the month 2025 pick! The cover intrigued me right away and I picked it up yesterday and here we are .. What a ride thru total desolation.. but also the beauty of nature.. will you feel like me after this novel? This book wants you to sign up for any nature preservation group period. Also I like this somewhat unease mood that is going on from the start to the end. I liked all of the main characters.. and I can relate to their decisions and actions. Without feeling like I got educated about the environment. Also liked the settle spice. Who am I kidding the description of him made my heart melt ;p hehe Also just FYI, the book is written in multiple POVs and I do like that the life goes on with the other characters even tho the main character deals with their complete own thoughts. The audio book is great too, and is read by several voice actors. Also a plus by around 300 pages it doesn’t drag and isn’t as slow burn as some might let on. I mean what do you expect? Theme park action on a desolate island ?? Simply one of my favorite reads so far in 2025!

Charlotte McConaghy’s Wild Dark Shore swept me away to the storm-battered cliffs of Shearwater Island, a fictional sub-Antarctic outpost where the air hums with isolation and the sea whispers secrets. I liked this book overall—its atmospheric pull is undeniable, wrapping you in a moody, almost tangible sense of place that’s as much a character as the people inhabiting it. McConaghy has a gift for painting nature’s raw beauty and fury, and that’s what hooked me from the first page.

Wild Dark Shore really took me away to another land! Wow! What a story. I could not put this one down. After learning that the fictional island of Shearwater is based on a real island called Macquarie Island it made me love it even more! There are so many facts and real information about plants, wildlife and global warming in this story. I loved the characters too! I felt like they were part of my life. There are sad and depressing moments for sure and I cried a few times. This story will stick with me for a long time!

I feel compelled to write about this book!!! I inhaled it. The story, its beautifully written, you will fall in love with every character. Buy it now!!!

Such a profound tale. Will definitely reread, something I rarely do..such a twisty, unexpected story of bravery, hope, love and loss.

A family of 4 is stranded on an island when a woman washes ashore with the sea kelp. They don’t trust her and she doesn’t trust them

Beautifully written literary fiction with twists and pacing that I haven't enjoyed in a long time. Truly unable to put this one down. Reminiscent of Where the Crawdads Sing or works by Kristin Hannah but with something more.

Compelling idea for a story —lone woman washes ashore on a tiny, remote island near Antarctica where lives he-man handy-man Dominic Salt and his three precocious children who are caretaking the world's largest seed bank that’s being kept alive for the future of our rapidly crumbling planet. But sea levels are rising and they have to pack up the seeds quickly and wait for the ship to come that will get them out of there. Who is the woman? Does she have a connection to the family? And what about the family? Seemingly rather perfect but also spooky with each character no matter the age giving off slightly sinister and withholding vibes. Everyone, including the wash-ashore woman, harbor lots of secrets and lies all seemingly born of paralyzing grief. Supposed to be a kind of thriller. And the island? A ecological wonder inhabited by seals penguins and the like, exotic flora and ferns, but also spooky as hell with extreme winds that sound like screaming ghosts, that topple the remaining flimsy structures once inhabited by researchers (what happened to them? another story), and threaten the well-being of the seeds. (The seeds are a kind of MacGuffin in the plot, seemingly like the most important thing but really, as curious as they are, just a means of moving the story forward). All makes for a promising if melodramatic read. Right? And indeed it could have been at least enjoyable and even have some depth if the author hadn't abdicated her duties and turned her complicated story over to a gang of unreliable narrators. Structured as a kind of recovery meeting, each character weighs in on the happenings as they unfold (back and forth in time)—and then the stories are woven together for multi-narrated tale told by five different people each with a different story. Confusing with lots of holes: Who’s real? Who is telling the truth? And wait a minute after all that, it turns out… what? How could that be? Didn’t so-and-so just say that he/she…etc etc..? No one turns out looking very good except maybe the poor woman. Creepy highly flawed people telling their muddled stories with the most unsatisfying and maddening ending. And what happened with the seeds?