I love all of Charlotte McConaghy's books!

If I could, I would rate WILD DARK SHORE with more than five stars. I cannot praise it highly enough!



Mysteries abound in this book, one right after another. You won't want to put it down and, yet, you'll hate to see it end. The last few short chapters might make you cry.



Simply put, living on Shearwater Island are a group of scientists/researchers and a father and his three children. One day a near-dead woman washes ashore during a storm, and the family nurse her back to health. The five of them--yes, even the children--all have secrets.



Do yourself a favor and read this. You'll want to thank me.

Wild Dark Shore: A Novel, Charlotte Mc Conaghy, author; Katherine Littrell, Saskia Maarleveld, Steve West, Charlotte McConaghy, narrators
This is an extremely complex and powerful novel. I think it will have touched the soul of every reader when the final page is turned. At first it may seem like it is a bit of a fantasy, or perhaps it is in the realm of science fiction, but instead, it is all about our reality, our own world and how we live in it, how we choose to save it and survive. It is about our personal choices and those made for us by higher powers. It is about right and wrong, good and evil.
The novel dissects our decisions and how they affect the lives of others around us. It is about the consequences of our behavior. It is about the ecosystem and climate change. It is about mental illness and suicide. It is about love. romance, family and interpersonal relationships. It is about grief and loss, coping, devotion and sacrifice. It is about comforting and moving on. It is about abuse and misinterpretation. It is about secrets and lies. In essence, it is really about every facet of life that we will experience, those with which we agree and those with which we do not. Ultimately, it is about decisions that affect us in the present and those that might challenge us in the future.
This is a sad book as danger grows all around the lives of the people on Shearwater Island. Bodies pile up, communications are down, insurmountable problems arise, and tragedies follow. Some of the guilty are the least likely to be suspected. Some are really innocent at heart and are merely doing what they think is right, not realizing how their actions might affect others.
The book is a harbinger of what we will all face, of what is to come if our choices do not heed the warnings we are given.
On the other hand, the book is hopeful, because it speaks to survival, to overcoming obstacles, to working out conflicts. It speaks to the power of truth in relationships, recovery, redemption, and salvation. It speaks to having respect for our surroundings, our environment and it speaks to the beauty of the natural and animal world.
There is so much information presented on the ecosystem, so much interaction between strangers and family members, sibling to sibling, parent to child, lover to lover, husband to wife, stranger to stranger, that it will be hard to discern if we can save ourselves. Yet, although the book ends in sadness, it also ends with the hope that life will prevail, that humans are strong and can forgive, forget, and rebuild.
The Salt family is alone on the island since the laboratory of stored seeds is being shut down and eliminated. Only part of the seed vault can be saved and prevented from extinction. The island itself is deteriorating. The storms grow worse, the area is unstable, the animal and plant life is in danger as well as those humans who are there. How all the island survives is the main idea of the book, but it is also about how civilization will or will not survive if we do not change our ways to protect our beautiful world.