Here are 55 books that Wild Dark Shore fans have personally recommended if you like Wild Dark Shore. Shepherd is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of The History of Sound

Cheryl Bulow

From Cheryl's 3 favorite reads in 2025.

Unknown Author Why Cheryl loves this book

The interconnected stories were thought provoking. Style of rhyming couplets was original and compelling.

By Ben Shattuck ,

Why should I read it?

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

What is this book about?

Now a major movie starring Paul Mescal and Josh O'Connor

'Triumphant' The Times
'Stellar' Daily Mail
'Exceptionally accomplished' The Scotsman
'Sublime' Observer
'Exquisite' Sunday Post

In twelve luminous stories set across three centuries, The History of Sound examines the unexpected ways the past returns to us and how love and loss are entwined and transformed over generations. In Ben Shattuck's ingenious collection, each story has a companion story, which contains a revelation about the previous, paired story. Mysteries and murders are revealed, history is refracted, and deep emotional connections are woven through characters and families.

The haunting title story recalls…


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Book cover of The High House

The High House by James Stoddard,

The Victorian mansion, Evenmere, is the mechanism that runs the universe.

The lamps must be lit, or the stars die. The clocks must be wound, or Time ceases. The Balance between Order and Chaos must be preserved, or Existence crumbles.

Appointed the Steward of Evenmere, Carter Anderson must learn the…

Book cover of Pachinko

Cheryl Burman Author Of Keepers

From Cheryl's 3 favorite reads in 2025.

Why am I passionate about this?

Author

Cheryl's 3 favorite reads in 2025

Cheryl Burman Why Cheryl loves this book

A very different type of read. ‘Sweeping’ is in this case a most apt description, covering nearly a century of the history of Koreans in Japan as seen through the eyes of one family. This was a topic I knew nothing about, as also I had no idea what pachinko was. I was totally engrossed following Sunja and her family as they navigate their way through the most dreadful of times to reach success, of sorts. It’s not a ‘can’t put down’ but the characters are very real and the tale beautifully told. Highly recommend.

By Min Jin Lee ,

Why should I read it?

22 authors picked Pachinko as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

* The million-copy bestseller*
* National Book Award finalist *
* One of the New York Times's 10 Best Books of 2017 *
* Selected for Emma Watson's Our Shared Shelf book club *

'This is a captivating book... Min Jin Lee's novel takes us through four generations and each character's search for identity and success. It's a powerful story about resilience and compassion' BARACK OBAMA.

Yeongdo, Korea 1911. In a small fishing village on the banks of the East Sea, a club-footed, cleft-lipped man marries a fifteen-year-old girl. The couple have one child, their beloved daughter Sunja. When Sunja…


Book cover of Rebecca

Caroline Ebinger

From Caroline's 3 favorite reads in 2025.

Unknown Author Why Caroline loves this book

Made my overthinking seem minor! What a wild ride.

By Daphne du Maurier ,

Why should I read it?

52 authors picked Rebecca as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

* 'The greatest psychological thriller of all time' ERIN KELLY
* 'One of the most influential novels of the twentieth century' SARAH WATERS
* 'It's the book every writer wishes they'd written' CLARE MACKINTOSH

'Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again . . .'

Working as a lady's companion, our heroine's outlook is bleak until, on a trip to the south of France, she meets a handsome widower whose proposal takes her by surprise. She accepts but, whisked from glamorous Monte Carlo to brooding Manderley, the new Mrs de Winter finds Max a changed man. And the memory…


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Book cover of December on 5C4

December on 5C4 by Adam Strassberg,

Magical realism meets the magic of Christmas in this mix of Jewish, New Testament, and Santa stories–all reenacted in an urban psychiatric hospital!

On locked ward 5C4, Josh, a patient with many similarities to Jesus, is hospitalized concurrently with Nick, a patient with many similarities to Santa. The two argue…

Book cover of The Night Circus

Lisa Redfern Author Of Crossing: A Chinese Family Railroad Novel

From Lisa's 3 favorite reads in 2025.

Why am I passionate about this?

Author DNA genealogy researcher California history storyteller & media maker Cartophile Close-call kefir exploder A philomath with too many books

Lisa's 3 favorite reads in 2025

Lisa Redfern Why Lisa loves this book

The magical beauty of this fantastical place feels like walking into one of your best dreams. Vividly written, one can almost smell the sweet treats it contains.

By Erin Morgenstern ,

Why should I read it?

24 authors picked The Night Circus as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

THE TIKTOK SENSATION

Rediscover the million-copy bestselling fantasy read with a different kind of magic, now in a stunning anniversary edition to mark 10 years since it's paperback debut.

The circus arrives without warning. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Against the grey sky the towering tents are striped black and white. A sign hanging upon an iron gates reads:

Opens at Nightfall
Closes at Dawn

Full of breath-taking amazements and open only at night, Le Cirque des Reves seems to cast a spell over all who wander its circular paths. But behind the glittering acrobats, fortune-tellers…


Book cover of Daisy Jones & The Six

leah

From Leah's 3 favorite reads in 2025.

Unknown Author Why Leah loves this book

Incredible on audio! (Multiple narrators in a documentary-type interview style). The characters are so real.

What are the critical ingredients of creativity? Love? Teamwork? Passion? What can you choose, and what takes you over?

Daisy Jones leaves rock and roll at the pinnacle of her career. Follow her fight to the top, and the fight everyone in the band has to be true to themselves in the midst of the power of sex, drugs, and rock and roll.

By Taylor Jenkins Reid ,

Why should I read it?

19 authors picked Daisy Jones & The Six as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

SOON TO BE AN AMAZON PRIME TV SERIES STARRING SAM CLAFLIN, RILEY KEOUGH AND CAMILA MORRONE

THE SUNDAY TIMES AND NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

From the author of THE SEVEN HUSBANDS OF EVELYN HUGO and the bestselling MALIBU RISING

'I LOVE it . . . I can't remember the last time I read a book that was so fun' DOLLY ALDERTON

Everybody knows Daisy Jones and the Six.

From the moment Daisy walked barefoot on to the stage at the Whisky, she and the band were a sensation.

Their sound defined an era. Their albums were on every turntable. They…


Book cover of Cloud Cuckoo Land

leah

From Leah's 3 favorite reads in 2025.

Unknown Author Why Leah loves this book

Doerr weaves together stories from 1492 Babylon, modern day Idaho, and a space station on the far future. In each, the power of words and story are what get the characters through and help them find meaning and insight. The book is expectedly paced - I was never annoyed when switching from one storyline to another. A common “lost” book is a thread deeply woven into each story. I was immersed in the worlds, taken in by each perspective character, and fascinated by the common thread of the story of “Cloud Cuckoo Land”, and how it came to be lost and found. Loss, knowledge, change (big and small), and the nature of truth and power are key thematic elements. Even though this book is quite a tome, the writing style is actually quite spare. Each paragraph is so evocative. I drew out reading the last 50 pages because I didn’t…

By Anthony Doerr ,

Why should I read it?

22 authors picked Cloud Cuckoo Land as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

On the New York Times bestseller list for over 20 weeks * A New York Times Notable Book * A National Book Award Finalist * Named a Best Book of the Year by Fresh Air, Time, Entertainment Weekly, Associated Press, and many more

“If you’re looking for a superb novel, look no further.” —The Washington Post

From the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of All the Light We Cannot See, comes the instant New York Times bestseller that is a “wildly inventive, a humane and uplifting book for adults that’s infused with the magic of childhood reading experiences” (The New York Times…


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Book cover of Trusting Her Duke

Trusting Her Duke by Arietta Richmond,

A Duke with rigid opinions, a Lady whose beliefs conflict with his, a long disputed parcel of land, a conniving neighbour, a desperate collaboration, a failure of trust, a love found despite it all.

Alexander Cavendish, Duke of Ravensworth, returned from war to find that his father and brother had…

Book cover of This Is Happiness

andrewp

From Andrew P's 3 favorite reads in 2025.

Unknown Author Why Andrew P loves this book

Niall Williams's book is balm for an ailing soul and a gift to readers. The title might suggest a saccharine, feel-good novel, but it is not. Christie, the book's big-hearted catalyzing character utters the title phrase precisely when he is thwarted in love, indicating that happiness is not a state but a state of mind. When tragedy arrives at the end, Christie, with difficulty, is still able to find the fullness of life.

But the narrator, 16-year-old No, is otherwise the main character of the book. From the perspective of sixty years hence, Noel recounts the life-changing events of 1960, when the rains suddenly stopped, spring felt like summer, and both Christie and electrification came to the western Irish village of Faha. The story is told recursively, in what I read as the great Irish oral storytelling tradition. Don't be put off by the slow start. The plot takes hold…

By Niall Williams ,

Why should I read it?

18 authors picked This Is Happiness as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Shortlisted for Best Novel in the Irish Book Awards Longlisted for the 2020 Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction From the acclaimed author of Man Booker-longlisted History of the Rain 'Lyrical, tender and sumptuously perceptive' Sunday Times 'A love letter to the sleepy, unhurried and delightfully odd Ireland that is all but gone' Irish Independent After dropping out of the seminary, seventeen-year-old Noel Crowe finds himself back in Faha, a small Irish parish where nothing ever changes, including the ever-falling rain. But one morning the rain stops and news reaches the parish - the electricity is finally arriving. With it…


Book cover of The Tainted Cup

eli3

From Eli's 3 favorite reads in 2025.

Unknown Author Why Eli loves this book

I felt so connected to the characters and the dialogue was quick and engaging!

By Robert Jackson Bennett ,

Why should I read it?

19 authors picked The Tainted Cup as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

From Edgar-winning, multiple Hugo-nominated novelist Robert Jackson Bennett—an unforgettable new Holmes and Watson–style detective duo take the stage in this fantasy with an irresistible mystery twist.

In Daretana’s greatest mansion, a high imperial officer lies dead—killed, to all appearances, when a tree erupted from his body. Even here at the Empire’s borders, where contagions abound and the blood of the leviathans works strange magical changes, it’s a death both terrifying and impossible.

Assigned to investigate is Ana Dolabra, a detective whose reputation for brilliance is matched only by her eccentricities. Rumor has it that she wears a blindfold at all…


Book cover of We Have Always Lived in the Castle

Julie Brooks Author Of A Haunting at Venus Bay

From my list on books where a mystery from the past stalks the present.

Why am I passionate about this?

I was twelve years old when I first read Jane Eyre, the beginning of my love for gothic fiction. Murder mysteries are fine, but add a remote location, a decaying old house, some tormented characters, ancient family secrets, and I’m all in. Traditional Gothic, American Gothic (love this painting), Australian Gothic, Mexican Gothic (perfect title by the way), I love them all. The setting in gothic fiction is like a character in itself, and wherever I travel, I’m drawn to these locations, all food for my own writing.

Julie's book list on books where a mystery from the past stalks the present

Julie Brooks Why Julie loves this book

It’s the voice that gets me with We Have Always Lived in the Castle.

Merricat Blackwood is such a strange, chilling young narrator. Mysterious and vaguely unsettling, I could never be sure whether to believe her version of events. Or not.

Plus, it has some of my favourite story ingredients: a family tragedy, a murder trial, an unwelcome visitor, and a little bit of magic. 

By Shirley Jackson ,

Why should I read it?

24 authors picked We Have Always Lived in the Castle as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Living in the Blackwood family home with only her sister, Constance, and her Uncle Julian for company, Merricat just wants to preserve their delicate way of life. But ever since Constance was acquitted of murdering the rest of the family, the world isn't leaving the Blackwoods alone. And when Cousin Charles arrives, armed with overtures of friendship and a desperate need to get into the safe, Merricat must do everything in her power to protect the remaining family.


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Book cover of Aggressor

Aggressor by FX Holden,

It is April 1st, 2038. Day 60 of China's blockade of the rebel island of Taiwan.

The US government has agreed to provide Taiwan with a weapons system so advanced that it can disrupt the balance of power in the region. But what pilot would be crazy enough to run…

Book cover of Someone You Can Build a Nest In

Lisa Redfern Author Of Crossing: A Chinese Family Railroad Novel

From Lisa's 3 favorite reads in 2025.

Why am I passionate about this?

Author DNA genealogy researcher California history storyteller & media maker Cartophile Close-call kefir exploder A philomath with too many books

Lisa's 3 favorite reads in 2025

Lisa Redfern Why Lisa loves this book

Wicked humor and wicked wit by an author with a bright mind. Unusual characters and point of view. Very enjoyable.

By John Wiswell ,

Why should I read it?

4 authors picked Someone You Can Build a Nest In as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A Most-Anticipated Book of 2024: LitHub, Polygon, Apple, Goodreads

"Wiswell raises the bar on the outcast as protagonist . . . the ultimate monster slayer story, if the monster is just a misunderstood creature searching for love." - Kristi Chadwick, Library Journal (starred review)

Discover this creepy, charming monster-slaying fantasy romance-from the perspective of the monster-by Nebula Award-winning debut author John Wiswell

Shesheshen has made a mistake fatal to all monsters: she's fallen in love.

Shesheshen is a shapeshifter, who happily resides as an amorphous lump at the bottom of a ruined manor. When her rest is interrupted by hunters…


Book cover of The History of Sound
Book cover of Pachinko
Book cover of Rebecca

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