The Wild Beneath

By: Kelly Anderson

Published by Park Row Books, 2026-08-04

"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



For readers of Wild Dark Shore and The Time Traveler's Wife, a fierce, haunting story of one woman caught between her first love and a mysterious stranger who upends everything--and the two worlds that won't let her go.



Annie MacLeod always knew she was different, growing up on a sailboat in the Pacific Northwest, navigating by stars and swimming with sea creatures alongside her parents and best friend Evan. But when a tsunami shatters her world, Annie is stranded on land and forced to confront how eccentric she is. In the wreckage, she rescues a wordless man named Walker, who emits a hum only she can hear.



Their connection is instant, electric. Walker's touch gives Annie visions of the ocean's hidden world, a life she's never known but feels inexplicably drawn to. Yet even as she is pulled toward him, Evan--the steadfast love who has always been there--remains on dry land, offering the stability she may have to leave behind. Annie is torn between Evan's grounding presence and Walker's magnetic secrets. But then, Walker vanishes--along with the answers she needs about who she really is.



Six years later, Annie has left the sea and buried the past--until Walker's otherworldly sound returns, pulling her back toward the ocean and the life she abandoned. The truth under the water is more ancient than she ever could have known, and Annie must confront a choice that will test her heart and determine her future.