"The sweeping, enthralling tale of a 17th-century wise woman forced to fight perilous tides of prejudice and superstition."
Awash with atmosphere, passion and suspense, this first novel in a new series by the mistress of popular historical fiction is an immersive, entertaining, feminist-spirited feast.
Impoverished midwife and herbalist healer Alinor goes to a graveyard on Midsummer Eve wondering if she might find the ghost of her missing abusive husband. Instead she encounters James, a wealthy, handsome man who will change the course of her life. With England in the throes of civil war, James is a fugitive and Alinor puts herself at risk to take him across the dangerous marsh to his place of sanctuary. James cannot comprehend meeting “a woman like you in a place like this”, words that ignite Alinor’s heart and soul through her otherwise bleak existence: “I am bound as a tenant to a neglectful lord and I cannot leave. I am wife to a vanished man and cannot marry, and I am sister to the ferryman and he will never carry me across to the mainland and set me free”.
While helping James does lift Alinor from the mire, the tongues of local gossip women and bawdy men are set wagging, threatening her very existence and her daughter’s shot at a new life, and wise Alinor knows only too well that “no woman is innocent… Everything is our fault: sin and death are at our door, from now to Judgment Day”.
The love story and evocation of time and place are utterly enthralling but, most of all, this is a dazzlingly compelling portrait of a complex, dignified woman standing strong and proud against the cruel confines of her class and sex.
| Primary Genre | Historical Fiction |
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A woman living in absolute poverty, a story of courage and love set amidst the turmoil of the English Civil War.
The first book in a new series and is as historically accurate as her Tudor and Plantagenet series. It is set in the 1640s, at the time of King Charles 1st and the Parliament of Cromwell. It tells the story of a woman called Alinor who lives in poverty but doesn't allow it to diminish her. It's a story of strength through adversity and holding true to oneself. She becomes involved with a rich young man, James Summer, who is a travelling priest engaged in a secret mission. However, Alinor is believed by the other villagers to possess some powers of witchcraft which makes her very afraid of what could happen.... Read Full Review
The magnetism between them is strong but their different backgrounds make it impossible and as the story unfolds the suspicion surrounding Alinor increases culminating in a vicious and disturbing conclusion.
I will start with saying ‘I love this book’!
In a departure from Philippa Gregory’s usual formula where the main subjects are royalty or well-known historical figures, Tidelands focus is on ‘ordinary’ people struggling through whatever life throws at them.
Tidelands is set in the Sussex marshlands on the south coast in the late 1640s during the English Civil War. The main story centres on the poor but proud and strong Alinor whose wise woman mother has passed onto her the gift of healing.
Deserted by her violent husband Alinor is struggling to bring up her teenage children and improve their life chances against all odds.... Read Full Review
Drawn into a world of superstition and intrigue, Alinor and James have a chemistry developing between them which neither can do anything about, and which both may come to regret.
When I pick up a Philippa Gregory novel, I know I am not going to be disappointed and this book was no exception. It is set in the 17th Century. England is in the grip of civil war, poverty is rife, plague is always a threat, and the unexplainable can only be explained by witchcraft. The story begins with Alinor, a descendant of wise women and James who, apparently, is not all he seems. I found it a little slow in places at first, but soon became involved with the characters. It is a time when it is ‘dangerous to be different.’ Rumours create stories of their own and the only defence seems to reinforce the guilt. Drawn into a world of superstition and intrigue, Alinor and James have a chemistry developing between them which neither can do anything about and which both may come to regret.... Read Full Review
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