Book Club: Read ‘Wild Dark Shore,’ by Charlotte McConaghy, With the Book Review

Welcome to the Book Review Book Club! Every month, we select a book to discuss with our readers. Last month, we read “The Catch,” by Yrsa Daley-Ward. (You can also go back and listen to our episodes on “Mrs. Dalloway,” “The Safekeep,” “Playworld” and “We Do Not Part.”)

Charlotte McConaghy’s latest novel, “Wild Dark Shore,” opens with an enigma: A mysterious, half-drowned woman washes ashore.

The stranger’s name is Rowan, and she has arrived on Shearwater, a remote island near Antarctica. The island, which houses an important seed bank, was once teeming with a community of scientists, but now the project is shutting down, the workers have left and the land lies quiet and deserted, everybody gone except for the Salt family.

Composed of the patriarch, Dominic, and his children — moody Raff, animal-loving Fen and precocious Orly — the Salts remain as stewards of the island and are tasked with preparing the seed bank for its ultimate closure. Each is lost in his or her own way, and all are hiding terrible secrets.

They’re not alone. Rowan herself has come to the island with a hidden purpose, putting this small community on a crash course for a long-overdue reckoning.

In August, the Book Review Book Club will read and discuss “Wild Dark Shore,” by Charlotte McConaghy. We’ll be chatting about the book on the Book Review podcast that airs on Aug. 22, and we’d love for you to join the conversation. Share your thoughts about the novel in the comments section of this article by Aug. 14, and we may mention your observations in the episode.

Here’s some related reading to get you started.

Our review of “Wild Dark Shore”: “In ‘Wild Dark Shore,’ we’re shown why a person might withdraw from the messiness of life after tragedy and trauma. … The novel also offers its injured characters a path back to connection and community, a risk McConaghy argues must be worth taking, no matter how fraught the future, no matter how temporary the family.” Read the full review here.
The American Bookseller Association’s interview with McConaghy about “Wild Dark Shore”: “‘Wild Dark Shore’ is about fear. Fear of how perilous the world grows, fear of the future we are facing, fear of the life we are leaving to our children, and how we are going to keep them safe. Ultimately, I think it’s an exploration of how we love in the face of this fear, in the face of loss.” Read the full interview here.
Our review of McConaghy’s previous novel, “Once There Were Wolves”: “This is a heartfelt and earnest novel — in every chapter, there’s evidence of a writer straining for the cathedral cadence, that elegiac note of aching significance — but sincerity doesn’t guarantee a satisfying read.” Read the full review here.
Our review of McConaghy’s debut adult novel, “Migrations”: “This novel’s prose soars with its transporting descriptions of the planet’s landscapes and their dwindling inhabitants, and contains many wonderful meditations on our responsibilities to our earthly housemates.” Read the full review here.