North Woods is the story of a house in New England and its inhabitants over the course of around 400 years, from the 17th century to sometime around the present day. It begins with the establishment of a cabin in the woods by a pair of Puritan lovers, and a tale of an unnamed woman fleeing war who poisons the soldiers chasing her. Perhaps most memorable, though, are the sections that follow next, largely in the 18th century, concerning the Osgood family. Charles, a soldier, moves to the area and renovates the yellow house, as well as establishing an orchard. He becomes a notorious ‘apple man’, famous across the region for his unique Osgood Wonder apples. When he is called up to fight once again, he dies fighting in the Revolutionary War and the house passes to his daughters, Mary and Alice. They live out their lives in an increasingly isolated and codependent fashion, with neither marrying. Their gruesome ending comes to haunt the house through the subsequent centuries.

Wild Dark Shore is set on the fictional Shearwater Island (inspired by the real-world Macquarie Island) between Australia and Antarctica. Its sole inhabitants (aside from thousands of penguins and seals) are Dominic Salt and his three children. Following the departure of a group of research scientists as sea levels rise to dangerous levels, the Salt family are the sole caretakers of the world’s largest remaining seed vault. Their isolation is shattered by the arrival of the battered and barely alive body of Rowan. While the family nurse her back to health, there are evidently secrets on both sides. Rowan is both drawn to Dominic and his children and repelled by a succession of discoveries that raise suspicions.