Wild Dark Shore: A Novel

It is hard to discuss this book without spoiling any of the eerie mysteries and secrets of the isolated island. This book brought me in with such intrigue, started to tug my heart strings though the innocence of the animals and then the innocence of the inhabitants. By the end of this book, my emotions were high as I debated if I would call this a vacation read, weekend read, or a must read.

For 8 years, following the death of his wife and their mother, Dominic Salt and his 3 children, Raff, Fen and Orly have been living on the remote island of Shearwater between Tasmania and Antarctica. There is a lighthouse, global seedbank and research base on the island. However, rising sea levels and the melting permafrost have led to the island being no longer viable. The family and researchers must prepare to pack up and permanently leave the island, taking with them as many of the seeds as possible from the seedbank. The novel begins 6 weeks prior to the anticipated arrival of the ship, when a mystery women, Rohan, washes up on the shore, barely alive. Her reasons for wanting to land on the island are gradually revealed, as connections are formed between Rohan and the various members of the Salt family. Over a short time, the complicated histories of the island, its animal populations and those of the people living there are drawn out with many engrossing twists and turns. I was quickly drawn into the intrigue and suspense novel, and was absorbed by the increasing drama that unfolded over those few short weeks leading up to the arrival of the Naval Icebreaker vessel.