Wild Dark Shore - Charlotte McConaghy (2025)

Rating: Admirable

Charlotte McConaghy is an established Australian writer, and Wild Dark Shore is her third novel. Although the novel could be defined as a thriller, it is essentially another contribution to the ever-growing climate change fiction genre (Cli-Fi). Set on a remote sub-Antarctic island between Tasmania and the Antarctic, called Shearwater (based on Macquarie Island) in what seems like a near future scenario in which sea levels are surging, the novel is a bleak and claustrophobic read. The Salt family are the only inhabitants left on the island after the researchers left on the last boat. The Salts are a damaged family unit, with single parent, Dominic (the strong, silent type), overseeing three teenagers, Raff, Orly and Fen, who improbably lives in a small shack near the thousands of seals and penguins on the rugged shoreline. It is Fen who pulls Rowen out of the water, injured and close to death after her boat is wrecked. Rowen is the mysterious stranger who creates tension among the Salt family and supplies the narrative drive at the heart of the novel. Shearwater is also the site of an important seed vault that is under threat from the rising waters. The island is due to be completely abandoned, and the seeds removed before it is taken by the ever-threatening waves. 

Wild Dark Shore was described as Gothic by one of my book club members. I’d definitely agree with that assessment, as it has many elements of the Gothic genre; a dark brooding setting, death, intense psychological states, grown men conversing with their long dead wives, teenagers muttering in underground spaces to the spirits of dead animals and a character who resembles the Selkies of Celtic myths, I could go on. It’s an intense novel all right, yet about halfway through I began to feel a certain level of indifference. I’m not completely sure why, the writing is vivid, the characters interesting enough and the environmental themes are resonant. Perhaps the novel’s over the top nature wore me down, in particular the romantic intensity between some of the characters became a bit much. McConaghy generates a great deal of genuine suspense throughout, and the mystery surrounding Rowan’s presence on the remote island is intriguing. The chapters are mostly short and told from the perspectives of Rowen and the Salt family (yes, the salt of the earth…), with the adults ruminating in first person and the children given the wider third person perspective. It’s a real emotional rollercoaster ride throughout. I have to conclude that Wild Dark Shore, whilst displaying a range of quality characteristics, simply just wasn’t for me. About half the book club members loved Wild Dark Shore, and the other half felt a similar level of indifference that I did. A worthy novel then, but perhaps not for everyone.