The Wild Beneath - by Kelly Anderson (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

AUGUST 2026 REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK

"If you love immersive, magical stories with unforgettable settings and books that spark great conversations, I think you're really going to love this one." --Reese Witherspoon

"Ethereal. . . . A story that reminds us sometimes the impossible is possible." --Jodi Picoult, #1 New York Times bestselling author of By Any Other Name

"An entrancing, magical novel that highlights the beauty of the natural world and our fragile place within it. Spellbinding!" --Nita Prose, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Maid

For fans of Wild Dark Shore and Remarkably Bright Creatures, a love story as fierce and mysterious as the sea itself.

Annie MacLeod always knew she was different, growing up on a sailboat in the Pacific Northwest, navigating by the stars and swimming in the ocean. But when a tsunami shatters her world and her parents are swept away, Annie is stranded on land, grief-stricken and forced to confront just how unconventional she is, despite her enduring love for her childhood sweetheart, Evan.

In the wreckage, she rescues a wordless man named Walker, who emits a hum only she can hear. Their connection is instant, elemental. When Walker disappears--along with any explanation he might hold about who she really is--Annie is forced to decide between evacuating with Evan or staying to unlock a secret that feels vital to her survival.

Six years later, Annie has buried the past. But when Walker's otherworldly sound returns, it forces a reckoning with the wild life she's left behind. Is the truth of the ocean more powerful than she knows?

The Wild Beneath is a spellbinding story of soulmates, homecoming and the ancient bonds that tie us all to the natural world.

Review Quotes

"Anderson's lyrical and ethereal first novel connects readers to the mystery and vitality of the natural world and our relationship to it. A perfect match for readers of Charlotte McConaghy, Richard Powers, and Shelby van Pelt."--Booklist (starred review)

"Anderson's book is ethereal, languid, crafted of language that rushes and recedes like a tide, buoying a story that reminds us sometimes the impossible is possible."--Jodi Picoult, #1 New York Times bestselling author

"A haunting, heart-stopping debut. The Wild Beneath is both a love story and a myth, a suspenseful tale steeped in the rhythms of the ocean and the mysteries of human connection. This novel, both intimate and epic, reveals how deeply our lives are entwined with the natural world."--Christina Baker Kline, #1 New York Times bestselling author

"An incandescent debut. Kelly Anderson pares the world down to its essentials and reminds us of the beauty and mystery of being alive...I did not want to come up for air."--Emma Knight, New York Times bestselling author of The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus

"In The Wild Beneath, debut author Kelly Anderson elegantly blurs the line between nature and humanity, illuminating the deep, unseen currents that connect us--to each other and to the natural world. Readers won't so much read this novel as feel it. I'll never look at the ocean the same way again. Absolutely dazzling."--Sarah Penner, New York Times bestselling author of The Lost Apothecary and The Amalfi Curse

"An entrancing, magical novel that highlights the beauty of the natural world and our fragile place within it. Spellbinding!"--Nita Prose, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Maid series

"The Wild Beneath is part love story, part ode to nature, with a mystical, musical, mysterious quality that carries readers along like a gentle wave."--Nikki Erlick, New York Times bestselling author of The Measure and The Poppy Fields

"This is the book I hope for every time I open a new cover. Immersive, lyrical, deeply and magically real, The Wild Beneath reminds us how thin and beautiful the line is between the natural and human worlds. Fans of Charlotte McConaghy and Eowyn Ivey will find a new favorite in Kelly Anderson."--Erica Bauermeister, New York Times bestselling author of The Scent Keeper

"Anderson has given us an achingly lovely book about the melodic pull of the natural world and the steep cost of pretending we don't hear its song. The Wild Beneath is a sublime debut."--Lily Brooks-Dalton, national bestselling author of The Light Pirate

"Drop everything and read The Wild Beneath, Kelly Anderson's astonishing debut. Her luminous prose reveals the world that exists beneath our own, from the depths of the ocean to the wild terrain of the human heart. I was transported." --Daisy Alpert Florin, author of My Last Innocent Year

"In lush, lyrical prose, Anderson weaves a spellbinding tale of singular Annie--her loves, her losses, her profound connection to the sea. Richly imagined and unlike anything you've read, The Wild Beneath is at once a beautifully rendered tribute to the natural world, a layered love story, and a deft reminder of the elemental bonds that tie us to each other and to the wild at the fringes of our urban lives."--Cathy Marie Buchanan, New York Times bestselling author

"The Wild Beneath is a song of a book, haunting and beautiful and strange, rich and lingering. It drew me in like the pull of the sea." --Emma Hooper, internationally bestselling author of Etta and Otto and Russell and James

"Kelly Anderson's writing is sensual, poetic, and alive. The Wild Beneath is a modern mythic romance, an elemental love triangle, and an ode to earth and water. I read this book with whole-hearted, full-bodied pleasure."--Sarah Selecky, Giller Finalist and author of Radiant Shimmering Light