Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy

Amy     

family drama

A woman, barely alive, washes up on the shore of a harsh, remote, frozen island located between Tasmania and Antarctica . She is saved by the family who cares for the island—a bereaved widower and his three children—its sole inhabitants. They will be leaving the island in a couple months when a boat arrives to collect them. The team of scientists and lighthouse operators who used to live on the island are already long gone. The family is suspicious of this woman—why would she make the arduous journey? But they have secrets of their own.

This was a wonderfully atmospheric setting full of unusual situations, secrets, and danger. Wild Dark Shore had a gripping story and lovable characters. Peppered throughout were facts about plants, animals, environments, and handywork. The best part was the last quarter of the novel. But I enjoyed the whole ride.

It’s a story about grief, trauma, guilt, nature, remoteness, motherlessness, and survival. There were frequent flashbacks to give the reader everyone’s histories. I had forgotten the author’s name but I’d previously read and loved Charlotte McConaghy’s novel Migrations. She definitely has a thing for freezing environments and nature! Wild Dark Shore had a quicker pace than Migrations and, therefore, I liked it better. The mysteries and potential hazards kept my attention. I’ll certainly read more from McConaghy.

The audiobook was narrated by a several narrators. The main narrator, Saskia Maarleveld, was voicing Rowan, the woman who washed up on shore. She’s always terrific and this audiobook was no exception. She displayed a fabulous vocal repertoire and voice acting. She gets an A. Katherine Littrell voiced the two older kids’ sections—one male and one female. She did a fine job but I really wish the producers had gotten two different narrators here. Since they’d already gotten four narrators, why not just one more? Cooper Mortlock voiced the young son and I didn’t love the casting for this role. Why get an adult-sounding narrator to be the voice of the 9 year old? I mean, he was a good voice actor but I, again, felt that the producers didn’t go the extra mile to make this audiobook so much better than it was. Last but not least, my favorite voice in the world, Steve West narrated the dad’s sections. However, while he did a great job with this material, it took me a little while to get used to the Australian accent he used. Since that’s probably a “me” problem, I’m not going to complain too loudly, though. However, due to my complaints about some choices that were made in this audiobook, I’m only giving the ensemble a B+.