06/05/2025 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 06/05/2025 07:09
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Wild Dark Shore
By Charlotte McConaghy
Shot from a cannon in the dark, Wild Dark Shoreis a novel that hooks you from the start and doesn't let you go until the last page; it will leave you breathless, wide-eyed, and in awe of the extraordinary power of fiction, which is why we named it the Best Book of the Year So Far. Charlotte McConaghy first hit the literary scene with her novel Migrations, which we named the best fiction book of 2020-and, just like her debut, her third novel ensnares you in a brilliant vortex of family, grief, climate change, and nature. With taut pacing that ratchets up the tension with every chapter, McConaghy unfurls the mystery of why a father, his three children, and a strange woman battered from a shipwreck find themselves on a remote island off the coast of Antarctica, where the air "is thick with the spirits of the dead." They are alone, and they stay in this inhospitable place: "When I think about leaving ... I almost can't breathe, but staying here is killing us." By turns haunting and tender, the story is narrated by each of the island's inhabitants, revealing heart-breaking betrayals, sacrifices, violence, kindnesses, and the madness and comradery that isolation can bring. McConaghy's exquisite gift is that she creates characters that you know you shouldn't trust with your whole heart, but you do anyway. The result is a gutting, magnificent story of the lengths individuals will go for the people and causes they care about. -Al Woodworth, Amazon Editor