Book review: Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy (Canongate, £9.99)

I was swayed to read WILD DARK SHORE, now out in paperback, for three reasons. One, it was a Reese’s Book Club pick for November 2025. Two, I loved the premise of a remote island, where the only inhabitants are the Salt family. Three, I adore any fiction that involves the sea, and the wilder the weather the better. Plus, WILD DARK SHORE is a New York Times bestseller. What I didn’t realize, until I began reading, is that the novel is very much about climate change, not a subject I might normally pick. The story is told through five viewpoints: Rowan, a stranger woman who washes up ashore on the island, Fen, the teenage daughter, Dominic Salt, father of the three children, Orly, the youngest son, and Raff, his elder brother. The island is Shearwater, which is home to ‘the world’s largest seed bank’, but with ever-rising sea levels, the seed bank is at risk of being lost - and the island’s other researchers have already abandoned the island. There’s a mystery here to solve - Rowan, the woman, is searching for her lost husband - and many more secrets besides. I enjoyed the novel for its stunning descriptions of nature, the unfolding mystery, and the tender relationships between the children, their father, and Rowan, but, for my tastes, there was a little too much emphasis on climate change Still - it was an engrossing read that kept me guessing until the very end.

WILD DARK SHORE by Charlotte McConaghy (Canongate, £9.99)