Hannah’s Pick of the Week: Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy

“I’ve seen a body taken by the sea, and the state of it will rid a man of any hubris. We are soberingly weak under its hammer. This woman, delivered by such a sea–one more powerful than most–is clinging on with a bewildering defiance.“

Charlotte McConaghy, Wild Dark Shore, pg. 5

The sea is many things — terrifying, mystifying, full of wondrous delight. Humans have only explored 5% of the ocean (according to NOAA), and yet we’ve been writing stories about it for thousands of years. However, as alien as it is, the sea can reveal much about ourselves and our interactions with the world.

We begin Wild Dark Shore with a father, Dominic Salt, and his three children, Orly, Raff, and Fen. Stationed on an Antarctic satellite island, Shearwater, the Salts are the final keepers of the world’s largest seed bank — think of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault as a fitting analog. With all of them living in a lighthouse, Dominic shields his family from the world they left behind. This is a world of heat and famine, war and encroaching water. Then, in one of the worst storms witnessed by the family, a bloodied and shorn woman, Rowan, washes up on shore.

Soon, Rowan fills a niche in the family dynamic, as Dominic finds less and less need to commune with his wife’s ghost, and Fen seeks a mother figure. But Rowan is hiding secrets, as is Dominic, and these secrets are drenched in blood. It’s these secrets that threaten to drown the Salts, and the entire island of Shearwater, with them.

Wild Dark Shore is brooding, windswept, and crystal clear in how it examines what people will do to secure the continuation of their families — and the planet. It has a touch of everything, mystery, literary prose, ecology, and maybe even a dab of romance. Undoubtedly, survival is at the forefront of this ecological thriller, but so is the drive to imagine a better future. Wild Dark Shore is perfect for readers of All The Water In The World by Eiren Caffall and The High House by Jessie Greengrass.