The Wild Beneath
Coming August 4 2026 from
Park Row/HarperCollins Canada
Bookseller Praise
"Let yourself be transported within the pages of The Wild Beneath. This absolutely dazzling debut is a love story to the sea and contains everything a reader could want in a novel. It is a coming-of-age novel, a story of mothers and daughters and first loves and hard choices, all sprinkled with mystical mystery and magic. I didn't just read this book, every page vibrated within me."
—Mary O’Malley, Skylark Bookshop
"What lies beneath the sea is more mysterious and complex than the human mind and heart can know. The Wild Beneath is an adventure, a love story, and a bit of mystical realism that will entrance readers. Dive in and enjoy this gorgeous novel."
—Pamela Klinger-Horn, Valley Bookseller
"The Wild Beneath reminds us of the magic and power of water, family, and first loves. Tapping into our sense of survival and wonder, the pages practically turn themselves."
—Kira Wizner, Merritt Books
"The Wild Beneath invites the reader to embrace the magical powers of the ocean and the inherent pull to understand the love that exists within its waters against the strength of the love that exists on the land it feeds. With hauntingly beautiful and vividly descriptive prose, along with a cast of well-developed characters, the author expertly defines what it means to truly belong to both the land and the sea. A spectacular tour de force!"
—Kathy Mailloux, East City Bookshop
"A poetic and haunting tale of loss, survival, and belonging. With a love story deeply rooted in the natural world, The Wild Beneath is perfect for fans of Charlotte McConaghy and Julia Armfield."
—Alyssa Raymond, Copper Dog Books
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
“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
"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
“The Wild Beneath is an incandescent debut. Kelly Anderson pares the world down to its essentials and reminds us of the beauty and mystery of being alive. Belonging to the natural world and yet living at odds with it is a conflict one can’t help but recognize; here it is rendered in a contemporary grown-up fairy tale filled with loss, desire, and the courage to listen. I did not want to come up for air.”
—Emma Knight, New York Times bestselling author of Life Cycle of the Common Octopus
"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
"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
"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
"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
"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