Wild Dark Shore

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death, child death, and animal death.

Shearwater Island is permeated with ghosts and spirits. These supernatural entities are variously “real” and a reflection of the characters’ psychologies and memories. The motif is tied to the theme of the Interconnectivity of Life and Death, as the dead do not disappear after they die but rather live on.

Fen and Orly believe wholeheartedly that the island is haunted by the ghosts of the animals who were massacred there in the 19th century. As Raff reflects, “[Fen] has a pure and simple belief that there are ghosts on this island. Orly’s the same” (97). Specifically, Fen feels that the “flickering green lights” that she sees are “spirits of the dead” (15). The novel’s description of these lights evokes St. Elmo’s fire, a weather phenomenon caused by changes in the atmospheric electric field and often observed at sea. However, Fen is confident they are ghosts. Similarly, Orly believes that the winds “carry ghosts upon them” to whom he can speak (126).

These supernatural elements reflect the psychological ghosts that haunt Rowan and Dominic. Dominic speaks to the ghost of his late wife, Claire. Similarly, Rowan feels that “Shearwater is a place of ghosts […] and it has found mine and delivered him back to me” (172), referring to her late brother, River. By the end of the novel, the characters learn to live more peaceably with these ghosts. This is represented in the scene following their dinner when the group goes outside to hear Raff play violin. As Rowan reflects, “I am certain I’m not the only one who feels the presences on the wind. All the hungry ghosts of Shearwater Island, come to dance with us on the hill” (222).