A family on a remote island. A mysterious woman washed ashore. A rising storm on the horizon.

Dominic Salt and his three children are caretakers of Shearwater, a tiny island not far from Antarctica. Home to the world’s largest seed bank, Shearwater was once full of researchers. But with sea levels rising, the Salts are now its final inhabitants, packing up the seeds before they are transported to safer ground. Despite the wild beauty of life here, isolation has taken its toll on the Salts. Raff, eighteen and suffering his first heartbreak, can only find relief at his punching bag; Fen, seventeen, has started spending her nights on the beach among the seals; nine-year-old Orly, obsessed with botany, fears the loss of his beloved natural world; and Dominic can’t stop turning back toward the past, and the loss that drove the family to Shearwater in the first place.

Then, during the worst storm the island has ever seen, a woman washes up on shore. As the Salts nurse the woman, Rowan, back to life, their suspicion gives way to affection, and they finally begin to feel like a family again. Rowan, long accustomed to protecting her heart, begins to fall for the Salts, too. But Rowan isn’t telling the whole truth about why she set out for Shearwater. And when she discovers the sabotaged radios and a freshly dug grave, she realizes Dominic is keeping his own dark secrets. As the storms on Shearwater gather force, the characters must decide if they can trust each other enough to protect the precious seeds in their care before it’s too late—and if they can finally put the tragedies of the past behind them to create something new, together.

I had heard so much buzz about this book that I was almost afraid to read it for fear of being disappointed. I wasn’t. It’s one of those reads that sneaks up on you – haunting in the best way. The book is full of longing, mystery, and family connections. The text is written with so much urgency that even I felt as though I was fighting for survival on a planet we have pushed past its breaking point. (I guess, in some ways, we already are.)

From the very first page, the setting completely gripped me. We’re on Shearwater Island, a fictional, windswept, remote island near Antarctica where the Salt family is packing up the last of a critical seed bank before climate collapse renders the place uninhabitable. It’s isolated, eerie, and absolutely gorgeous in a wild, crumbling sort of way. I felt the danger and intensity of the constant storms and raging seas that surrounded them. The author is a pro at writing nature as a living, breathing force – harsh, beautiful, and indifferent.

The Salts are a family that has been broken by loss and grief, and each of them is doing the best they can to survive until the rescue ship can come and carry them away from the island. Dominic, the father, is emotionally shut down and haunted by the loss of his wife years earlier. Raff, the oldest son, is reeling from heartbreak and full of anger he doesn’t know what to do with. Fen, the middle child, is prickly and emotionally closed off, spending most of her time with the seals that inhabit the island, while little Orly is this gentle, plant-loving, wide-eyed observer of the natural world. Each of them carries their own wounds, and watching them try to coexist on this island, surrounded by nothing but their grief and the sea, is both tender and painful.

And then Rowan – a mysterious woman – washes ashore during a brutal storm and changes each of them in ways they never saw coming.

The relationships that bloom between Rowan and the Salt family felt earned. Each relationship was different, and I loved watching the dynamics shift and grow. It made what comes later in the story hit so much harder. (I won’t spoil anything, but yeah… that ending? It hurt in the way only good books can.)

What I really loved was that the author didn’t immediately make it clear who we could trust. Rowan is mysterious and clearly hiding something – but so is Dominic. And even the kids, in their own ways, have shadows they’re trying to keep tucked away. There’s this constant undercurrent of tension that had me turning pages like crazy to figure out who had the biggest secret and who the real threat was. I loved the uncertainty.

What really struck me, though, was how timely and relevant the book felt. Climate change isn’t just a backdrop here – it’s an active, looming presence that adds urgency and weight to every decision the characters make. The world is quite literally ending around them, and yet the story remains deeply intimate. It’s about one family, one mysterious woman, and one little island. But through that narrow lens, the author manages to explore big, aching questions that pop up as the world tries to eat us alive. Are any of us really safe?

I really loved how the author explores how we hold onto hope, even when everything around us is being destroyed. Even as the storms rolled in and secrets unraveled, there was always a thread of possibility – of planting something new, of choosing to love, of rebuilding from loss. It’s beautifully written, deeply emotional, and, yes, a little devastating. I couldn’t help but get swept up in the complexity of it all. It really leaves you thinking. I’d absolutely recommend this to anyone who likes their fiction atmospheric, slow-burning, and emotionally rich.

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