Dark Tides: A Novel

Philippa Gregory

Nov 2020 · The Fairmile Series Book 2 · Sold by Simon and Schuster

About this ebook

#1 New York Times bestselling author of Tidelands—the “searing portrait of a woman that resonates across the ages” (People)—returns with an evocative historical novel tracking the rise of the Tidelands family in London, Venice, and New England.

Midsummer Eve 1670. Two unexpected visitors arrive at a shabby warehouse on the south side of the River Thames. The first is a wealthy nobleman seeking the lover he deserted twenty-one years earlier. Now James Avery has everything to offer: a fortune, a title, and the favor of the newly restored King Charles II. He believes that the warehouse’s poor owner Alinor has the one thing he cannot buy—his son and heir.

The second visitor is a beautiful widow from Venice in deepest mourning. She claims Alinor as her mother-in-law and tells her of the death of Rob—Alinor’s son—drowned in the dark tides of the Venice lagoon.

Meanwhile, Alinor’s brother Ned, in faraway New England, is making a life for himself between in the narrowing space between the jarring worlds of the English newcomers and the American Indians as they move towards inevitable war. Alinor writes to him that she knows—without doubt—that her son is alive and the widow is an imposter. But how can she prove it?

Set in the poverty and glamour of Restoration London, in the golden streets of Venice, and on the tensely contested frontier of early America, this is a novel of greed and desire: for love, for wealth, for a child, and for home.

Ratings and reviews

An increasingly compelling read, even more enjoyable for me than its prequel. Book #2 in Philippa Gregory's four-novel "Fairmile" series picks up the family in 1670, more than twenty years after the previous book, TIDELANDS, ends. Alinor's brother, Ned, is off in New England, establishing a new life. In England, the interregnum rule of Oliver Cromwell is over and King Charles II has been restored to the throne, along with the family holdings of Sir James Avery. Alinor is now middle aged, living with her daughter Alys and Alys's adult children, Sarah and Rob, both nearing the end of their apprenticeships. The London based family runs a small business along the wharf, barely managing financially when a beautiful, ambitious, and mysterious Venetian woman suddenly arrives at their door, with an infant in tow, identifying herself as the grief-stricken widow of Alinor's brother, Rob, recently drowned. Though that sets the scene, not all is as it seems. And the rest of the book travels from busy London to secretive Venice to new settlements in Hadley, Massachusetts -- as members of this family all try to uncover the truth behind appearances. Along the way, we learn about the English market for antiquities, the classism of British society, mounting tensions between settlers and indigenous people in America, the strength of a mother's intuition, and the persistence of an old lover's guilt. It's quite a tale. I love how it unfolds and I only had one significant issue, which happens late in the book concerning one character's turnaround, which to me, simply did not seem plausible. Not enough, however, to spoil this original historical novel. And I'm looking forward to the next two volumes.

This lady has awesome books have all of them an look forward to others to come. Thanx

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About the author

Philippa Gregory is the author of many New York Times bestselling novels, including The Other Boleyn Girl, and is a recognized authority on women’s history. Many of her works have been adapted for the screen including The Other Boleyn Girl. She graduated from the University of Sussex and received a PhD from the University of Edinburgh, where she is a Regent. She holds honorary degrees from Teesside University and the University of Sussex. She is a fellow of the Universities of Sussex and Cardiff and was awarded the 2016 Harrogate Festival Award for Contribution to Historical Fiction. She is an honorary research fellow at Birkbeck, University of London. She was awarded a CBE title for services to literature and charity in 2022. She welcomes visitors to her website PhilippaGregory.com.