Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy | Readers Club Episode 301
2026-01-28 20:00 - 21:00 (America/Detroit)
PBS Books Readers Club is excited to kick off its third season with New York Times bestselling author Charlotte McConaghy to discuss her novel Once There Were Wolves and shed light on her brand-new highly acclaimed novel Wild Dark Shore. The episode premieres on January 28th at 8PM ET as a PBS Books Facebook Live event, on the PBS Books YouTube channel, pbsbooks.org, and the PBS app.
Once There Were Wolves follows Inti Flynn as she arrives in the remote Scottish Highlands with a bold mission: to reintroduce gray wolves to a landscape ravaged by overgrazing. Fierce, determined, and carrying her own bruised history, Inti believes restoring the wolves is the key to healing the land—and perhaps herself. But when a man from the community turns up dead, suspicion falls squarely on the pack. To protect the animals she’s worked tirelessly to save, Inti makes a fateful choice that entangles her in a mystery far more human than anyone expects.
Lyrical, haunting, and deeply atmospheric, Once There Were Wolves blends environmental suspense and our unique bond with animals with an intimate portrait of trauma, sisterhood, and resilience. It’s a riveting story that asks how we learn to trust again—in nature, in one another, and in ourselves. It’s perfect for readers who crave emotional depth wrapped in a gripping, propulsive narrative.
PBS Books Readers Club will also glimpse into McConaghy’s newest novel, Wild Dark Shore. This emotional thriller follows Dominic Salt and his three children, lone caretakers of a remote island’s seed vault as climate change closes in. When a mysterious woman named Rowan washes ashore during a brutal storm, their fragile isolation and buried secrets begin to unravel. As the sea rises and the truth about Rowan’s past—and Dominic’s—comes to light, trust is tested, loyalties shift, and the stakes become more than just survival.
About the Author
Charlotte McConaghy
Charlotte is an Australian author living in Sydney with her partner and two children.
She has a Masters Degree in Screenwriting from the Australian Film Television and Radio School, and a number of published SFF works in Australia.
Her novel MIGRATIONS was her first foray into adult literary fiction, published in North America by Flatiron Books, and by Penguin Random House in Australia and the UK. It is being translated into over 25 languages, and adapted to film.
ONCE THERE WERE WOLVES, the New York Times Bestseller, is a romantic mystery about a biologist charged with reintroducing wolves to the Scottish Highlands in order to rewild the landscape and bring a forest back to life.
Her third novel WILD DARK SHORE continues her love of romantic thrillers set in beautiful, remote places, and explores not only what it takes to raise children in a collapsing world, but the impossible choices we make to protect those we love.
