Wild Dark Shore

Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy

Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy is a powerful literary novel that blends climate fiction, family drama, and survival storytelling against the backdrop of a remote island in the Southern Ocean. When a mysterious woman washes ashore during a violent storm, a lighthouse keeper and his three children are forced to confront secrets, grief, and the fragile balance between humanity and nature.

Set on Shearwater Island—home to extreme weather, vanishing coastlines, and a vital global seed vault—the novel explores themes of environmental collapse, isolation, motherhood, loss, resilience, and moral responsibility. As the island edges closer to disappearance and resources dwindle, the arrival of the stranger disrupts the family’s carefully controlled world and raises unsettling questions about trust, survival, and the future of life on Earth.

Written in lyrical, emotionally charged prose, Wild Dark Shore weaves multiple perspectives into an immersive narrative that is both intimate and epic. Fans of climate fiction, literary suspense, and character-driven novels will find this story haunting, urgent, and deeply human.