27 June 2025
Wild Dark Shore Review With 20 Book Club Questions
Reviewed by: Melissa Ng
Quick Facts
Book Publication Date: 4 March 2025
How I Read It: Borrowed from my local library
Where You Can Find Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy: Amazon Australia* | Kobo US* | Kobo Canada*
| Libro.fm*
Content & Trigger Warnings: Death, grief, suicide, animal violence, coarse language, sexual content, statutory rape, traumatic childbirth
Synopsis Of Wild Dark Shore
Dominic Salt and his three children are the last inhabitants of Shearwater, a tiny remote island not far from Antarctica. Once a thriving research base, it’s now being dismantled as rising sea levels threaten its future.
The Salts are there to finish packing up the world’s largest seed bank before it disappears beneath the waves.
But the isolation is taking its toll.
Raff, heartbroken and full of teenage rage, punches his way through the days.
Fen, secretive and restless, finds solace sleeping among seals on the beach.
Young Orly, obsessed with plants and panicking about climate collapse, clings tightly to what remains of their world.
And Dominic? He’s drowning in the past.
Then, during the worst storm Shearwater’s seen, a woman, Rowan, washes ashore.
As she slowly earns the Salts’ trust, and affection, the island starts to feel like home again. But Rowan has secrets.
And so does Dominic. When she discovers a sabotaged radio and a freshly dug grave, it becomes clear: not everyone wants to be found, and not everyone wants to leave.
Wild Dark Shore Characters
- Dominic Salt: The father and caretaker of Shearwater who is weighed down by grief.
- Raff Salt: The eldest son, heartbroken and angry.
- Fen Salt: The middle child, spends her nights sleeping among the seals.
- Orly Salt: The youngest, obsessed with plants and the natural world.
- Rowan: The mysterious woman washed ashore.
Wild Dark Shore Review
I had high hopes for Wild Dark Shore. A mystery thriller set on a remote island, what’s not to like? Unfortunately, I found it to be quite average. Not bad. Not brilliant. Just sitting somewhere in the middle.
What I Liked:
✔️ The setting: The isolated island off Antarctica really worked for me. It gave the book a desolate, almost eerie atmosphere — perfect for a mystery. I’d actually recommend reading this in winter to really get that cold, bleak vibe. Trust me, it adds to the experience.
✔️ Easy to read: Despite the heavy themes, this was a pretty accessible read. Shorter chapters at times, not too long, and nothing too complex in terms of structure. You could easily knock this out over a weekend.
✔️ Environmental themes: I’m a big animal lover, so I appreciated the inclusion of wildlife — whales, seals, penguins, and more. The book tries to shine a light on climate change and conservation, which I respect.
What Didn’t Work For Me:
❌ Heavy-handed eco messaging: While I liked the intent, the execution felt a bit clunky. The environmental themes weren’t woven into the story as naturally as I’d hoped. At times, it felt info-dumpy.
❌ Pacing: Even though the writing’s easy to digest, the actual plot moved slow, especially when we get into the mundane day-to-day scenes. I didn’t really get hooked into the story until about half way through.
❌ Lack of communication: The entire plot hinges on Rowan and Dominic not talking to each other. A single honest conversation between them would’ve unravelled most of the mystery. It was frustrating knowing the whole thing could have been avoided with, you know, basic human communication.
❌ The romance: I couldn’t buy into the romance between Rowan and Dominic. They don’t trust each other, they’re both keeping major secrets, and yet somehow they fall in love? I don’t know about you, but I’d struggle to get cosy with someone I suspected might have murdered my husband.
❌ Confusing flashbacks: The book includes flashback sections, but they aren’t clearly marked. More than once, I found myself halfway through a scene before realising it was set in the past. A simple date or time marker at the beginning of those sections would’ve made a world of difference.
Final thoughts:
McConaghy nails the windswept, edge-of-the-world atmosphere, but for me, the rest of the novel didn’t land. It felt like the book was trying to do a lot (family drama, mystery, climate themes, romance), and not all of it hit the mark.
It wasn’t necessarily bad by any means; I’ve definitely read worse thrillers. This was just average for me.
Memorable Wild Dark Shore Quotes
And now it feels like if I stop moving, even for a second, I will perish.
Any rebellion I had was just this…quiet anger. Always swallowed down.
Raff tries something upbeat at first, because the point of this is to make her worry less about him, but soon the music overcomes, it sweeps him away and morphs into something else, an expression of something obscured. He is powerless to it, in the same way he is powerless to his anger. He wonders if this is what he is, all that he is, a leaf battered by one wind or the other.
Wild Dark Shore Book Club Questions
- What were your favourite and least favourite moments in the book?
- Did you enjoy the flashbacks and multi-POV structure?
- Did you have any predictions when you started reading?
- How and why did you think Rowan came to the island?
- What did you think Dominic was hiding?
- Do you think Rowan and Dominic are likeable characters?
- Do you think the lack of communication between Rowan and Dominic was believable or frustrating?
- What did you think of the romance between Rowan and Dominic?
- Do you think Rowan’s arrival helped or harmed the Salts overall?
- Shearwater is almost a character itself. How did the setting shape the mood and story?
- Could this story have worked anywhere else?
- How do you think their time at Shearwater impacted the children?
- Do you think the children would have grown up different if their mother was alive?
- Do you think the children will be able to thrive in life off the island?
- What did you think of Dominic’s method of boxing to help Raff deal with his anger?
- How did you feel about the environmental conservation theme? Did it enhance or detract from the story?
- The book features some heavy topics such as suicide, grief, and statutory rape. How do you think they were handled?
- Were you able to predict any of the twists or reveals?
- Were any of the reveals particularly shocking?
- What did you think of the ending?
- Have you read any other books by Charlotte McConaghy?
- If so, where does Wild Dark Shore rank?
- If not, are you interested in reading more of her novels?
- If Wild Dark Shore was adapted into a movie, which actors would you cast for each character?
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