Here are 100 books that Wild Dark Shore fans have personally recommended if you like Wild Dark Shore. Book DNA is a community of 13,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of The Last Ranger

Yvonne Osborne Author Of Black River

From my list on rural noir tension and environmental conflict.

Why am I passionate about this?

I grew up on a fifth-generation family farm, schooled around the dining table by stories of bootleggers, hoodlums, and environmental shysters. Raised by parents and grandparents who believed in the ancient wisdom of husbandry versus the growing use of chemicals and crop dusters.  Those who believed what was good for all was good enough for one. The common good versus the selfish exploitation of land, animals, and labor. 

Yvonne's book list on rural noir tension and environmental conflict

Yvonne Osborne Why Yvonne loves this book

If you love the National Parks but fear for their continued viability, read The Last Ranger.

Heller takes you deep into Yellowstone with a gutsy but beleaguered ranger who is only trying to do his job, protecting the animals therein and the majesty of the park from often well-meaning but ignorant tourists and poachers. The tension explodes when a fellow ranger and good friend is caught in a trap.

By Peter Heller ,

Why should I read it?

4 authors picked The Last Ranger as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The best-selling author of The River returns with a vibrant, lyrical novel about an enforcement ranger in Yellowstone National Park who likes wolves better than most people. When a clandestine range war threatens his closest friend, he must shake off his own losses and act swiftly to discover the truth and stay alive.

“A good story that’s intertwined like leaves afloat in a river with the current of Heller’s descriptive powers… Filled with Heller’s lush writing… Powerful.” –Denver Post

Officer Ren Hopper is an enforcement ranger with the National Park Service, tasked with duties both mundane and thrilling: Breaking up…


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Book cover of The Last Whaler

The Last Whaler by Cynthia Reeves,

This book is an elegiac meditation on the will to survive. Tor, a beluga whaler, and his wife, Astrid, a botanist specializing in Arctic flora, are stranded during the dark season of 1937-38 at his remote whaling station in the Svalbard archipelago when they misjudge ice conditions and fail to…

Book cover of The Mighty Red

Yvonne Osborne Author Of Black River

From my list on rural noir tension and environmental conflict.

Why am I passionate about this?

I grew up on a fifth-generation family farm, schooled around the dining table by stories of bootleggers, hoodlums, and environmental shysters. Raised by parents and grandparents who believed in the ancient wisdom of husbandry versus the growing use of chemicals and crop dusters.  Those who believed what was good for all was good enough for one. The common good versus the selfish exploitation of land, animals, and labor. 

Yvonne's book list on rural noir tension and environmental conflict

Yvonne Osborne Why Yvonne loves this book

I loved this book because of the setting in a sugar beet farming town facing environmental degradation, complicated by forbidden love and hidden secrets.

The problems all farming communities face are similar and heartbreaking. This is about ordinary people, like those I know, flawed but decent and struggling to survive a farming life.

Plus, I love a good love story.

By Louise Erdrich ,

Why should I read it?

5 authors picked The Mighty Red as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

'Erdrich remains one of the world's literary giants' Boston Globe

In Argus, North Dakota, a fraught wedding is taking place.

Gary Geist, a terrified young man set to inherit two farms, is desperate to marry Kismet Poe. Gary thinks Kismet is the answer to all of his problems; Kismet can't even imagine her future, let alone the kind of future Gary might offer. During a clumsy proposal, Kismet misses her chance to say 'no' and so the die is cast.

Hugo has been in love with Kismet for years. He has been her friend, confidante and occasionally her lover -…


Book cover of Broken Country

Yvonne Osborne Author Of Black River

From my list on rural noir tension and environmental conflict.

Why am I passionate about this?

I grew up on a fifth-generation family farm, schooled around the dining table by stories of bootleggers, hoodlums, and environmental shysters. Raised by parents and grandparents who believed in the ancient wisdom of husbandry versus the growing use of chemicals and crop dusters.  Those who believed what was good for all was good enough for one. The common good versus the selfish exploitation of land, animals, and labor. 

Yvonne's book list on rural noir tension and environmental conflict

Yvonne Osborne Why Yvonne loves this book

I loved this book because it shows how class disparity still exists, how it complicates a teenage love affair and transcends family secrets.

As a reader, I found myself rooting for all of the main characters, though they are facing impossible choices, working against each other and their own best interests, which are mercurial and contradictory.

Fast-moving and propulsive storytelling.

By Clare Leslie Hall ,

Why should I read it?

4 authors picked Broken Country as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

*****AMAZON'S BOOK OF THE YEAR *****
INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES AND NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
REESE WITHERSPOON'S BOOK CLUB PICK
FEARNE COTTON'S HAPPY PLACE BOOK CLUB PICK
AMANDA LAMB BOOK CLUB PICK

'An unforgettable story of love, loss, and the choices that shape our lives . . . but it's also a masterfully crafted mystery that will keep you guessing until the very last page. Seriously, that ending?! I did not see it coming'
REESE WITHERSPOON

'This story of a love affair is so addictive it could be at home with the thrillers . . . A simmering book of secrets,…


If you love Charlotte McConaghy...

Book cover of Wolf Magick

Wolf Magick by Paula Cappa,

Wolf Magick is a contemporary Gothic dark-fantasy tale of wild darkness and haunted love. 

Marc Sexton, charismatic and bold, refuses to accept his supernatural destiny—his spiritual calling of wolf magick. This man harbors olde secrets: he denies the shapeshifting “gift” he inherited from his father, a powerful Celtic realm walker…

Book cover of The Trouble Up North

Yvonne Osborne Author Of Black River

From my list on rural noir tension and environmental conflict.

Why am I passionate about this?

I grew up on a fifth-generation family farm, schooled around the dining table by stories of bootleggers, hoodlums, and environmental shysters. Raised by parents and grandparents who believed in the ancient wisdom of husbandry versus the growing use of chemicals and crop dusters.  Those who believed what was good for all was good enough for one. The common good versus the selfish exploitation of land, animals, and labor. 

Yvonne's book list on rural noir tension and environmental conflict

Yvonne Osborne Why Yvonne loves this book

I loved this book because of the Northern Michigan setting and the accurate portrayal of land use controversies: an issue facing rural communities everywhere.

What a family will do to protect their land from monied interests and commercial development, especially when their land has become prime real estate. And what happens when siblings go against one another and their mother’s wishes.

By Travis Mulhauser ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Trouble Up North as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

An NPR Best Book of the Year 2025

An atmospheric, haunting novel about the Sawbrooks, a family of bootleggers with a troubled history and a deep connection to the Michigan land that binds them.

The Sawbrooks have spent decades crisscrossing the waterways and vast forests between Northern Michigan and Canada to make their way as smugglers. Those hidden routes through the border's nooks and crannies are their legacy, but they no longer pay the bills. The world has changed; the resorts, with their fancy clientele, are infringing on their space, and the Sawbrooks find themselves deeply fractured, clutching at their…


Book cover of The Quickening: Creation and Community at the Ends of the Earth

Rebecca Priestley Author Of Fifteen Million Years in Antarctica

From my list on Antarctic travel science and climate by women.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m kind of obsessed with Antarctica. Sometimes, in a good way–I love ice and cold!–and sometimes in a more troubled way (melting Antarctic ice will have a global impact). As a science writer and academic, my work engages deeply with Antarctica, climate change, and sea level rise, and after my three trips to the ice, I wrote my own Antarctic story. All these books are different, deeply imbued with the personality of the author and their different experiences on the frozen continent. And all of them engage with the vulnerability of this astonishing part of the world and the remarkable people working to uncover its secrets. 

Rebecca's book list on Antarctic travel science and climate by women

Rebecca Priestley Why Rebecca loves this book

Elizabeth Rush is a beautiful, meditative writer, but she also knows how to swear, which I appreciate. After loving her first book, Rising: Dispatches from the New American Shore, I was delighted to find her next book was about Antarctica.

In a deeply immersive narrative that follows a 2019 research voyage to the Thwaites ‘Doomsday’ Glacier on the American ship Nathaniel B. Palmer, Rush writes honestly and seriously about climate change and how Antarctic ice melt is contributing to global sea level rise, but she’s also hopeful and positive about the future.

There is a parallel narrative thread about motherhood, birth, and her own plans to get pregnant. Unexpected bonus content (and spoiler!)—the book contains probably the best and most honest account of giving birth I’ve ever read. 

By Elizabeth Rush ,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked The Quickening as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

An NPR Best Book of the Year
Winner of the CLMP Firecracker Award in Creative Nonfiction

"The Quickening is a book of hope."-Elizabeth Kolbert, author of Under a White Sky

An astonishing, vital work about Antarctica, climate change, and community.

In 2019, fifty-seven scientists and crew set out onboard the Nathaniel B. Palmer. Their destination: the ominous Thwaites Glacier at Antarctica's western edge. Their goal: to learn as much as possible about this mysterious place, never before visited by humans. And with them is author Elizabeth Rush, who seeks, among other things, the elusive voice of the ice.

Rush shares…


Book cover of Emotional Resiliency in the Era of Climate Change: A Clinician's Guide

Molly Young Brown Author Of Growing Whole: Self-Realization for the Great Turning

From my list on building resilience in hard times.

Why am I passionate about this?

As a teacher, counselor, and author, I aspire to support people’s personal and spiritual unfolding for the benefit of all life. I studied psychosynthesis with its founder, Roberto Assagioli, and explored peace psychology and eco-psychology. During my Masters of Divinity studies in the 1990’s, I began working with Joanna Macy, which led to our co-authoring Coming Back to Life and focused my professional life on the Work That Reconnects. The challenges of climate disruption, systemic racism, and economic inequity and instability require us all to act from our most mature, creative, and loving dimensions, which I believe these books can help engender.

Molly's book list on building resilience in hard times

Molly Young Brown Why Molly loves this book

This very readable book gave me insights into the psychological causes of climate denial (which we all suffer from to some extent) and helpful suggestions and practices for breaking through denial with courage, integrity, and resiliency. Although the book is written especially for therapists and counselors, I believe everyone will find it enlightening because we all face the catastrophic effects of climate collapse together.

By Leslie Davenport ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Emotional Resiliency in the Era of Climate Change as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Although the environmental and physical effects of climate change have long been recognised, little attention has been given to the profound negative impact on mental health. Leslie Davenport presents comprehensive theory, strategies and resources for addressing key clinical themes specific to the psychological impact of climate change.

She explores the psychological underpinnings that have contributed to the current global crisis, and offers robust therapeutic interventions for dealing with anxiety, stress, depression, trauma and other clinical mental health conditions resulting from environmental damage and disaster. She emphasizes the importance of developing resilience and shows how to utilise the many benefits of…


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Book cover of Let Evening Come

Let Evening Come by Yvonne Osborne,

After her mother is killed in a rare Northern Michigan tornado, Sadie Wixom is left with only her father and grandfather to guide her through young adulthood. Miles away in western Saskatchewan, Stefan Montegrand and his Indigenous family are displaced from their land by multinational energy companies. They are taken…

Book cover of No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference

Julian Caldecott Author Of Water: Life in Every Drop

From my list on building peace with nature.

Why am I passionate about this?

I started off studying tropical rainforest creatures and saw the catastrophic impacts of modern humanity on nature and indigenous peoples. My work then focused on how to resolve conflicts between people and nature, at first in and around national parks and then more widely. I became quite good at dissecting environmental aid portfolios, and writing up what I had found in a series of books. I was also drawn into the great climate protests of 2019 and 2020, and now I'm working on pulling it all together into a book on Restoring Peace with Nature.

Julian's book list on building peace with nature

Julian Caldecott Why Julian loves this book

I was in Parliament Square at Samhain, 31 Oct 2018, when the Extinction Rebellion began. Greta Thunberg spoke there, but the mic broke so she paused at every sentence for the front rank to call out her words to those behind. The potent archetype of a virgin girl-child speaking truth to power worked its traditional magic, by exalting a thousand people, including me. Fast-forward a few years, and millions on the streets, and this little book condenses the motivation and message of climate activism: “Everyone and everything needs to change. Make the best available science the heart of politics and democracy. We must start today. We have no more excuses.” Greta offers everything important that we have been trying to say for decades. She encourages us to unify our divided minds and purposes. To me this is worthy of the most passionate engagement.

By Greta Thunberg ,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The #1 New York Times bestseller by Time's 2019 Person of the Year

"Greta Thunberg is already one of our planet's greatest advocates." -Barack Obama

The groundbreaking speeches of Greta Thunberg, the young climate activist who has become the voice of a generation, including her historic address to the United Nations

In August 2018 a fifteen-year-old Swedish girl, Greta Thunberg, decided not to go to school one day in order to protest the climate crisis. Her actions sparked a global movement, inspiring millions of students to go on strike for our planet, forcing governments to listen, and earning her a…


Book cover of Great Adaptations

Emily Andrews Author Of Climate Adaptation: Accounts of Resilience, Self-Sufficiency and Systems Change

From my list on adaptation to climate change.

Why am I passionate about this?

For the publication of our book, Climate Adaptation: Accounts of Resilience, Self-Sufficiency and Systems Change, I have worked closely with activists and academics from around the world, hearing more about the work they do and the unique and individual ways they have made adaptations within their communities. This experience has allowed me to have a deeper understanding of climate adaptation as a topic, both in a scientific and a cultural sense, thus meaning I have been more readily able to recognise the qualities of a great adaptation book!

Emily's book list on adaptation to climate change

Emily Andrews Why Emily loves this book

Great Adaptations explores different adaptation strategies explored around the world, analysing which should be supported and which are to be avoided. This book also shows the various approaches between countries and global communities, all of whom face different environmental challenges. This book is written in short chapters, focusing on separate topics, meaning it is a great read to pick up and put down as and when you like. 

By Morgan Phillips ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Great Adaptations as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Climate change adaptation. A hope-fuelled necessity on the road to a transformed world? Or the last act of the doom-merchant who has given up?

There are great ways to adapt to the climate crisis that confronts us, but there are disastrous ways too. In this book, Morgan Phillips takes us from the air-conditioned pavements of Doha and the 'cool rooms' of Paris, to the fog catchers of Morocco and the agro-foresters of Nepal. He makes an often-neglected topic engaging and relatable at precisely the moment the climate movement is waking up to it.
A just transition is at stake. Great…


Book cover of The Pyrocene: How We Created an Age of Fire, and What Happens Next

Luke Heaton Author Of A Brief History of Mathematical Thought

From my list on grand, unifying ideas for how the world works.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am a scientist and inventor, who has always been drawn to grand, overarching narratives, and unifying ideas. I have degrees in Mathematics and Architecture, a PhD in Biophysics, and spent 11 years studying fungal networks at the University of Oxford. I am currently working with the award-winning architect Ben Allen, to commercialize a patent for making POMB (poly-organic mycelium blend): a light-transmitting, thermally insulating, carbon-negative building material.

Luke's book list on grand, unifying ideas for how the world works

Luke Heaton Why Luke loves this book

Surprisingly enough, our planet has been home to horse-shoe crabs for longer than it has had fire. After all, you cannot have fire without atmospheric oxygen (a product of photosynthesis), and until the evolution of land plants, there was no fuel for lightning sparks to ignite. As Stephen J. Pyne eloquently describes, humanity’s exceptional relationship to fire has literally shaped our world, from the development of small guts and big heads through cooking food, to climbing the food chain by cooking landscapes, to harnessing the world-changing fire-power of fossil fuels. This insightful overview of human history puts forward the compelling idea that human actions (including prehistoric actions) have moved our planet from an ice age to a fire age.

By Stephen J. Pyne ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Pyrocene as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A provocative rethinking of how humans and fire have evolved together over time-and our responsibility to reorient this relationship before it's too late.

The Pyrocene tells the story of what happened when a fire-wielding species, humanity, met an especially fire-receptive time in Earth's history. Since terrestrial life first appeared, flames have flourished. Over the past two million years, however, one genus gained the ability to manipulate fire, swiftly remaking both itself and eventually the world. We developed small guts and big heads by cooking food; we climbed the food chain by cooking landscapes; and now we have become a geologic…


Book cover of The Politics of Climate Change

Sumit K. Lodhia Author Of Mining and Sustainable Development: Current Issues

From my list on sustainable development is important to the planet.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am Sumit Lodhia, a Professor of Accounting at the University of South Australia who has a primary research interest in sustainability accounting and reporting. Sustainable development is something that I am very passionate about, and I consider myself lucky enough to research in this area and to teach a course on this subject matter to third year undergraduate accounting students. I am a former resident of the beautiful Fiji Islands, and my lived experiences here and in my current country of residence, Australia, have shaped my worldview that focuses on equity, transparency, democracy, morality, and compassion.

Sumit's book list on sustainable development is important to the planet

Sumit K. Lodhia Why Sumit loves this book

I found that this is a book that answered the question of why addressing climate change is such a complex issue. Written by a philosopher whose writing I had found very difficult to comprehend in the past, it was a pleasant surprise that the book had a very simple and effective writing style.

I comprehended that various vested political interests have made addressing climate change a complicated process that requires extensive negotiation and many compromises to seek effective solutions. 

By Anthony Giddens ,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Politics of Climate Change as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

"A landmark study in the struggle to contain climate change, the greatest challenge of our era. I urge everyone to read it."
-Bill Clinton, 42nd President of the United States of America

Since it first appeared, this book has achieved a classic status. Reprinted many times since its publication, it remains the only work that looks in detail at the political issues posed by global warming. This new edition has been thoroughly updated and provides a state-of-the-art discussion of the most formidable challenge humanity faces this century.

If climate change goes unchecked, the consequences are likely to be…


Book cover of The Last Ranger
Book cover of The Mighty Red
Book cover of Broken Country

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Interested in climate change, isolation, and islands?

Climate Change 243 books
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