In Wild Dark Shore, a family guards secrets and a doomsday seed vault

Imagine you’re stationed on an extremely remote island that’s slowly being swallowed by the rising sea — completely isolated from the rest of the world beyond the wildlife and the few family members there with you — and a half-dead woman washes ashore one day, offering no clues as to who she is, where she came from and why. This scenario is how Wild Dark Shore begins, immediately compelling.

Dominic has been living on Shearwater Island, the site of a global seed vault and research base, for eight years with his three children. But because of climate change, the seeds are in jeopardy as the permafrost thaws and sea levels rise, threatening to flood the vault. All the researchers have left the base, and Dominic’s family will soon too, but they first have to pack up the seeds that have been selected to be saved. Everything is upended when Rowan shows up, and it soon becomes clear that secrets are being kept on both sides.

I couldn’t help thinking of The Lighthouse at times while reading this, as the characters grappled with the elements, isolation, suspicion and their complicated feelings toward each other, on top of grief stemming from their personal losses. It’s both haunting and incredibly moving, and another novel I expect to sit among my favorites of the year.