Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy is a literary novel set entirely on a remote island where a family of four has been tasked by the government to safeguard and protect the seeds of the many species of plants and flowers known to man. The idea is that with climate change getting worse, the planet will very soon collapse and with it take out the majority of the planet’s wildlife. The project can be considered a type of Noah’s Ark but for plants so that humans can rebuild again in the future. When a mysterious woman washes up ashore one night, it throws the family into complete disarray. With everyone having their own secrets to hide, each member will, however, have to learn to live with one another until the next ship arrives to bring them back to normal civilization.

I liked the novel except for one very specific part. However, as with so many things in our society nowadays, I can see how readers who do not believe in climate change will immediately be put off by the story and setting. Some of it does require the reader to suspend reality and to stretch their imagination for just a bit, but for the most part, Wild Dark Shore is a slow burner of a story that kept me engaged until the very end. The author’s description of the wildlife and animals on the island is on point. The story of sacrifice that the Salt family has to go through, for each and every one of them, can be at first hard to take in, but as things slowly progress chapter by chapter, we start to get wrapped up in the mystery and want to discover just what it is that they are hiding from the mysterious woman, Rowan.

That mystery left me very disappointed. Once the author chose to finally get to that part of the story, as soon as she switched to that character’s point of view for the next chapter, I immediately prayed and hoped that she wasn’t going to go “there.” But sure enough, she did, and I just had to roll my eyes so hard. It felt like another easy way out, a simple and brainless method for getting the readers mad at the male villain instead of coming up with a real and solid mystery that fitted the mold of the story up to that point. Other than this negative, I pretty much liked everything else. Dom’s eagerness to protect his children however best he could, Raff’s courage to hold up the family together, Fen’s love for the sea and wild animals, Orly’s fascination with botany, and Rowan’s struggle with her past and inner self all made the story worth a read. I think some readers will obviously believe that the author/publisher has an agenda to push out, namely climate change and women not wanting to bring new children into this world to damage it further. But from the novel’s perspective, I believe things balanced out themselves, especially where Rowan is concerned in the end. It was a great and sobering ending to cap off a story of isolation, loneliness, sacrifice, and love.