Wild Dark Shore: Reese's Book Club Pick (A Novel)

REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK • INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • BOOK OF THE MONTH CLUB'S BOOK OF THE YEAR • LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION

A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR (NPR, TIME, USA Today, The Economist,Scientific American, Good Housekeeping, Reader's Digest,BuzzFeed, BookRiot, HuffPost, Jezebel, The Globe and Mail, Kirkus, and more!)

"A breathtaking novel of ROMANCE, MYSTERY, AND TWISTS that will shock you...I love this book so much." ―Reese Witherspoon
"A WILDLY TALENTED writer." ―Emily St. John Mandel
“Absolutely ASTONISHING. McConaghy's writing knocks me over every time.” ―Fredrik Backman
“SPELLBINDING...Exceptionally imagined, thoroughly humane.” ―Washington Post
"My absolute FAVORITE book of 2025." ―Carley Fortune

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.

Charlotte McConaghy is the award-winning and New York Times bestselling author of Wild Dark Shore, Once There Were Wolves, and Migrations. Her novels are being translated into more than thirty languages. She lives in Sydney, Australia, with her partner and two children.

Praise for Wild Dark Shore

Instant New York Times Bestseller
Instant Indie Bestseller
Instant USA Today Bestseller
Instant Washington Post Bestseller
Instant Los Angeles Times Bestseller

A Best Book of the Year (NPR, TIME, USA Today, The Economist,Scientific American, Elle, Good Housekeeping, Reader's Digest, HuffPost, Jezebel, The Globe and Mail, Kirkus, BuzzFeed, BookRiot, She Reads, Scary Mommy, Chicago Public Library, and more!)
#1 IndieNext Pick
Book of the Month Club’s Book of the Year Winner
Women’s Prize for Fiction Longlist Selection
Aspen Words Literary Prize Finalist
Dayton Literary Peace Prize Finalist
A Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction Longlist Selection
Stella Prize Longlist Selection
Edgar Award for Best Novel Nominee
Goodreads Choice Awards Finalist
Indies Choice Book Awards Finalist
Reese's Book Club Pick
New York Times Book ReviewBook Club Pick
Reader’s Digest Book Club Pick

"A breathtaking novel of romance, mystery, and twists that will shock you...I love this book so much."
―Reese Witherspoon

“Wild Dark Shore is absolutely astonishing. Charlotte McConaghy's writing knocks me over every time.”
―Fredrik Backman, #1 New York Times bestselling author of My Friends

“My absolute favorite book of 2025...It’s part family drama, part mystery, and completely absorbing.”
―Carley Fortune, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Our Perfect Storm

“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

“Wild Dark Shore is a thrilling page-turner, but all the action and suspense disguise something deeper: a beautiful meditation on love, loss and resilience in the face of climate change.”
―NPR

“I’ve hardly read a book this year that kept me on the edge of my seat as much as Wild Dark Shore. This novel has it all – haunting imagery that reminds us what’s at risk for our planet, a precocious and loveable kiddo, a touch of romance, a blood-pressure-raising mystery and a survival story with heart.”
―USA Today

"McConaghy writes beautifully about the natural world and expertly ratchets up the tension, as mutual suspicion increases and secrets are gradually revealed. This is a powerful read that encompasses not only grief, sacrifice and perseverance in the face of disaster, but also survival strategies and their concomitant moral dilemmas."
―The Guardian