Title: Wild Dark Shore

Author: Charlotte McConaghy 

Genre: Literary Fiction

Rating: ★★★★★

Why I read it: Recommended by a friend and bookstagram

Holy moly. So much to say, and, to be honest, I’m unsure how to say it without spoilers. Please proceed with caution. The long and short of it is this: I absolutely loved this book. And it left me in tears by the end. Two things can be true, and that was prevalent throughout this entire work of art. 

A woman washes up on a remote research island. The Salt family, who live there (and are also the caretakers of the island and the important research it contains), save her. With both sides keeping secrets, it’s only reasonable that things get complicated as they await their evacuation, which is several weeks away. As Rowan regains her strength, she starts to uncover oddities about the island – where did the researchers go? Why are the communications destroyed? And why are there freshly dug graves? Dominic Salt and his children have similar questions – who is this woman? Why did she come here? And why does she seem hell-bent on digging up their demons?

I expected drama, I expected a love story. I did not expect to be swept away in the beauty of this island, or the wildlife that inhabits it. Nor did I expect the call-to-action on climate change that this book brings. Why do they need to evacuate the island, you may be asking. Due to climate change, their island is being reclaimed by the sea, and it has been determined that it is no longer safe for research to be conducted there. I don’t think I’ve read anything in fiction that is this explicit about the future of our world and what is happening to it while we sit idly by doing nothing. Perhaps this is why I felt such a connection, because, at some level, it felt so real. It felt like I was seeing this true story unfold in front of my eyes, and maybe, somewhere, it is true. It helps that the animals are adorable, and I found myself comparing them a little too much to my beloved dogs.

For lovers of multiple POVs, boy, is this for you! Not only are there multiple POVs, there are six of them, and believe it or not, I really wanted a seventh. I won’t share why, but those who read the book may agree that it could have been useful to get inside one particular character’s head to figure out what on earth was going on. 

Having six points of view sounds insane on the surface, but in some weird way, it works really well for this book. Each character has their own voice, with some written in the first person, some in third, and each plays a critical role in helping you develop an understanding of their perspective and their side of the story. Without these points of view, I think it could have been difficult to understand the nuances of each character, so I am thankful for the author’s choice of this approach. Also, I’m just a sucker for dual POV, so any book that has it is automatically getting extra points. 

Another HUGE positive for me was the inclusion of the supernatural. Don’t let this scare you – it’s done incredibly well and adds to the story in a way that gives the characters more depth. It also made the island itself seem like an additional character, which, in a way, I think it was. There was something just right about the inclusion of the supernatural that helped me, as the reader, understand the mental toll it would take to be living in isolation in that environment. Do I selfishly wish there was more? Absolutely. Did the book need more? Not at all.

Rowan’s storyline was refreshing as her perspective regarding children is not unlike my own. While the details are different (again, won’t share why because spoilers), I appreciated how the author carefully depicted her and the conversations surrounding the topic of having children. I am trying so hard to be cryptic here, but I was worried that the ending of the book would end one way (which would have resulted in me docking points), but it instead ended a completely different way that did not result in her compromising or changing her stance. I was so happy that the author chose not to give further platform to that specific narrative.

Last but not least, this book made me cry in a way I haven’t in a long, long time. Not that tears equate to a 5-star rating automatically, but tears plus everything I’ve detailed above (especially the immediately preceding paragraph) are what made it a 5-star read for me!

I’m leaving a lot of things out in this review, as it’s long enough already, and everything else I have to say is a spoiler. I wish this book had been a book club pick because goodness, there is so much to talk about! Let me know if you’ve read this and how your rating compares to mine. This book may have been a match made in heaven for me, but I’m sure there are others out there with differing opinions. I may have to make this a permanent feature on my bookshelf.

TL;DR:  This is by far worth the long waitlist at the library. Go ahead and get your request in now; you’re not going to want to miss this one.