Wild Dark Shore

 Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy was published in 2025 and has received numerous awards including a nomination for the 2026 Edgar Award for Best Novel. The story takes place on fictional Shearwater Island which was located about where the real Macquarie Island is, between Tasmania and Antarctic. It had been chosen as a vault for seeds of every possible species of plants. However, as the result of rising sea levels which would eventually make life on the island impossible, the island is scheduled for abandonment. The scientific research station had already been abandoned, so all the scientists that had been located had left by the time the story began. Left behind was a family of caretakers and one scientist who had been chosen to get the content of the vault ready for transport to a better location. 

The story opens with the discovery of a woman, Rowan, who has washed up to the shore following a severe storm. She was alive, but there was no evidence how she possibly could have gotten there. With the help of Dominic Salt and his three children, Raff, Fen, and Orly, Rowan is gradually nursed back to health and she slowly reveals her secrets, including her marriage to the one scientist, Hank, who had been left behind to sort the seeds and get them ready for a transfer to a safer location.. Dominic had brought his children there eight years earlier following the death of his wife during child birth for Orly. Rowan was searching for her husband, Hank, but she discovered her own mixed feelings about the marriage. The isolation from the rest of the world was taking its toll on the remaining inhabitants.

 

This is really a story about life and death, and the emotions that go along with that. There’s the death of life on the island, the death of Dominic’s wife, possible murder of scientists, death of the inhabitants before they could get rescued death of the seeds that had long been protected, the drowning of Rowan as she gives her own life to save Orly. This story is very well-written with fascinating characters and a skillfully unfolding plot. I agree with the awards that have come to McConaghy for this novel, so it gets a 5/5 rating from me.