Dark Tides

My most anticipated read of the year!! And it was SO GOOD.

Alinor Reekie used to be a midwife and herbalist, like her mother and grandmother before her. Years ago, she fell in love with a man she shouldn't have, and her life fell apart. Now, she is an entirely different woman, sickly and frail, living with her daughter Alys Stoney by the dirty waters of the river. It has been twenty years since Alinor and her children, Alys and Rob, left their beloved home in the tidelands. At the beginning of this story, a beautiful and mysterious Italian woman named Livia arrives at their door with baby in tow, dressed in black mourning clothes, claiming she is Rob Reekie's widow. Alys welcomes her in, but Alinor isn't convinced her son is dead. Also! show more Out of the blue, James Avery shows up to outrage and no-fanfare-whatsoever, after twenty long years of no word at all. He desperate to make amends with Alinor after allowing unspeakable horrors to happen to her long ago. But none of these women nor their circumstances will make it easy for him to reacquaint with Alinor.

Before anything else, I want to say that I LOVE the way Philippa Gregory writes women. The women in this series are such badasses. At first glance, they don't seem to have much and they seem like their lives matter very little. But these women have a strength that is larger than life and they can handle far more than anyone in their world wants to give them credit for.

This story is not at all like Tidelands in terms of atmosphere and tone. The main POV's have shifted around a little bit and the world is much larger. The first story took place in a very small community in England, but this story has spread to London, Venice, and New England. It was super compelling and all I wanted to do was read it. (I thought about it nonstop when I couldn't be reading.) The chapters are short, which made it easy for me to sneak a few pages here and there throughout the day: while I was in the line at the grocery store, while dinner cooked, in between subjects while homeschooling my kids.

Here's the thing: I had a hunch that something was up with Livia from the beginning. She was coy and her story often didn't line up with reality. (I loved to hate her!) I kept hoping everyone would wise up to [what I assumed were] her schemes, and then when things really picked up, I couldn't wait to see how everything would unfold for these characters.

GAH, it's going to be a long wait for the next part of the story!! The ending thankfully isn't a cliffhanger, but there is definitely more story to be told. I'm really happy for some of these characters and I really feel like some of them got what was coming to them.

Sidenote: I can't wait to reread Dark Tides via audiobook. Right before I started this one, I reread Tidelands via audiobook and it was fantastic. Louise Brealey narrated and did such a fantastic job. Her accent is beautiful and I cannot wait to hear her bring Dark Tides to life.

I received this book for free from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. Thank you, Atria Books! show less

This is the second book in Philippa Gregory’s Fairmile series and this time Gregory takes readers away from the tidelands of Sussex and into London, Venice and New England. I must admit, the descriptions of Venice were so interesting that I think this was my favorite part of the book.

After the catastrophe at the tidelands in the first book, Alinor, her daughter Alys and her brother Ned all move away in order to start a new life. Alinor and her daughter end up running a warehouse on the wharf in London. Ned decides to leave England and try his luck in America.
Alinor’s son Rob goes to train to become a doctor and ends up practicing in Venice.

Ned’s storyline puts him in close contact with the Native Americans and he is soon show more conflicted over which side he must be on if the English and the Indians are to battle. I didn’t feel like Ned’s storyline tied in very well to the story, but I did enjoy it on it’s own.

In London, Alinor and Alys have two unexpected visitors. One is James Avery, the man Alinor loved who betrayed her when she needed him most. The other is a woman from Venice claiming to be Alinor’s daughter-in-law. She brings a baby with her that she claims is Alinor’s grandson.

What transpires when the two visitors meet is nothing but the best dose of karma ever inflicted on two richly deserving individuals. I was a bit shocked at how Gregory wrapped up the ending. It was a bit unbelievable, but still satisfying.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for allowing me to read an advance copy and give an honest review. show less

I liked this (audio) book with its well defined characters: Alinor (an herbalist); her son Rob; her daughter Alys and Alys' children, Sarah and Johnnie; and Alinor' brother, Ned. At the beginning of the book, you learn that Rob has drowned and his grieving widow and baby son arrive in London and immerse themselves into their lives. But the widow is not what she seems as she falsifies information and puts them in debt. Arriving in London from her former home in Venice, she convinces her new relatives that she has wealth in marble goods back in Venice and promises to share in her profits if they help transport her goods from Venice, store them in their London warehouse, and sell them. While assuring her new family that she now belongs show more with them, she secretly seeks the company and fortune of a rich English nobleman, Sir James. While I truly enjoyed this book, I found the chapters about Ned and his pioneer life in America disconnected and of little value as part of the larger story. show less

Dark Tides by Philippa Gregory is the second book in the historical fiction Fairmile series and picks up 21 years after the end of Tidelands. I was eagerly awaiting this release, but the huge time gap between books was a complete surprise. I was really looking forward to following Alinor and Alys as they left the mire with their cart and faced the dangers and challenges ahead.

Unfortunately, the reader picks up their story after these struggles and we find them with an established household working as poor wharfingers in a small warehouse on the south side of the Thames. Alinor has aged and while still very much the matriarch of the family, she is no longer the main character of the novel. Rob's widow arrives on their doorstep from show more Venice with her newborn baby and the devastating news he has drowned.

Alys and her daughter Sarah dominate the story along with the widow Livia, with intervening chapters from Alinor's brother Ned's point of view.

Ned has moved to New England and is quietly trying to eke out a living as a ferryman. There he finds himself caught between the settlers and the American Indians and his storyline is full of foreboding and dread about what is to come.

Ned's chapters were a complete contrast to the goings on in London and Venice and to be honest, I could have done without them. I typically don't enjoy reading about early settlement in the USA, so I didn't enjoy Ned's story in New England.

Back in London, wealthy widow Livia is turning the Reekie family on its head and I could tell it wasn't going to end well. Rob's widow is a well-written antagonist with some biting dialogue, but her storyline had an overbearing sense of a family betrayal brewing that made this reader feel uneasy.

The sense of foreboding evident in Tidelands is also present in Dark Tides, however the fact that all storylines were heading towards seemingly unavoidable disaster made this a worrisome read.

While there was ample foreshadowing throughout the novel, Gregory's signature writing talent was on full display. Here's a quote I enjoyed from very early on in the book:

"He thought the world was not whole anymore; but sundered into country and court, winners and the lost, protestants and heretics, royalists and roundheads, the unfairly blessed and the unjustly damned." Page 6

Themes of class and the divide between the poor and the wealthy were again brought into focus with the seemingly wealthy widow's disappointment and shock at the Reekie family's position and living conditions and her desire to improve her station in life for the benefit of her son.

Dark Tides by Philippa Gregory is recommended for historical fiction fans with an interest in 1670s London, Venice or New England, and those who enjoy investing in a good generational family saga. I look forward to the next installation of the Fairmile series.

* Copy courtesy of Simon & Schuster * show less

I was not exactly pleased with the cliffhanger ending of Tidelands, but I hoped the sequel, Dark Tides, would explain more and resolve everything. The first book ends on such an unsatisfying cliffhanger, when both Alinor and Alys were both secretly preggers (Alinor was pregnant for ages!) and then revealed to be pregnant, Alys's wedding was cancelled, and they were run out of their depressing marshy town as slutty witches. The second book opens with them living in London, with two young adult "twins" who are either Alinor's, Alys' or one of each, kept very vague for maximum drama. Actually, that sums up the whole book, full of intriguing hints, but kept quiet for maximum drama, for ages and ages, until the resolution held no show more interest.

Alinor's ex reappears, offering a pile of money, marriage, and adoption of whichever child is his heir. Then Rob's widow appears, a Venetian noblewomen with a baby and tragic tale of Rob's drowning death, and starts telling obvious lies and spending all their money. I found myself skimming because there were just so many scenes of Livia being shady and Alinor silently, skeptically handing over money to her. This is interspersed with a second, equally slow-moving storyline of brother Ned in New England. Again, we have hints of coming tension, dragged on and on.

I read all the way to the end, because I kept thinking I must be missing something, or that something would pull it all together. By the end, when all the drama exploded in about an hour of book-time, I realized I no longer cared to see justice done. I was on Team Nobody by the end. show less

Dark Tides is the second book in Philippa Gregory’s historical fiction series, The Fairmile, and begins twenty one years after Tidelands ends.

Alinor Reekie and her daughter, Alys, have long left Sealsea Island behind and now reside on the banks of the Thames River, operating a small warehouse that services unlading ships. Alinor, who has has never regained full health after the near drowning she endured, supplements the family’s income with herbal preparations, while Alys’s children, twins Johnnie and Sarah, contribute what they can from their wages as apprentices. They live simply, honestly, and quietly, but unexpected visitors suddenly throw the family into turmoil.

The first of their visitors is James Avery aka James Summers, show more the man who deserted Alinor at her most vulnerable, leaving her heartbroken and pregnant. Having recovered his title and family fortune, and recently widowed, he is seeking the child he assumes Alinor birthed, desperately desiring an heir.
The second visitor brings tragic news, calling herself Nobildonna Livia da Ricci, with a babe in her arms, she claims to be the widow of Rob, Alinor’s son. Tearfully she tells the family Rob, who was practicing as a doctor in Venice, drowned in a boating accident and now she has come to England to raise their son as an Englishman.

To be honest I’m as disappointed by this sequel as I was surprised by Tidelands. Alinor is reduced to a minor character, I never much cared for Alys, and care for her even less here. Avery is still a fool, Livia and her machinations are entirely transparent, and Sarah’s potential is squandered.

I could have forgiven a lot if the plot hadn’t turned out to be almost wholly predictable, it’s immediately clear that Livia can’t be trusted and the story pivots around her obvious deceptions.

Additionally the story itself largely lacks the atmospheric appeal of Tidelines, Gregory uses not more than broad strokes to describe the life along the Thames, and I felt she gave Venice short shrift.

There is a second storyline that runs through the book which features Ned, Alinor’s brother, who fled to the New World (America) when Cromwell was unseated and a new King retook the throne. While I had some interest in Ned’s experience, there was very little action, and though the theme’s echoed that of his sister’s story, the storyline as a whole was superfluous.

I realise my assessment here is quite harsh, but I am struggling to find anything particularly positive to say. I did finish it, so it wasn’t unreadable, but I don’t think it was any more than barely okay, though I’m sure others will disagree. show less

Don’t worry. If you haven’t read the first book in the Fairmiles series, you will still enjoy this book. I love a book with a clear villain in it and Livia, a widow from Venice, who has come to live with her mother-in-law and family in London. Livia is a conniver and she’s out to take advantage of her in-laws as she seeks to sell antiquities. But Livia fails to recon with her mother-in-law who doubts Livia’s tale and send her intelligent granddaughter to Venice to find Livia’s husband. While Livia ensnares people in her trap, a second story is taking place in New England. Ned, a son for Grandmother Alinor, has fled to New England because of his ties to the Roundheads and Oliver Cromwell. While I’m not sure how this fit into show more this story, other than to continue the characters from the first book, I enjoyed reading about a Puritan sympathetic to the Native way of life in the 1670’s. But the best part of the book is the end when granddaughter, Sarah, shows her iron strength and Livia gets her come-uppance. I really enjoyed this book. So often, historical fiction set during the 1600’s focuses on royalty and this book focused on strong women finding a place for themselves in business. I hope there’s a third book in the series, focusing on Sarah and where she directs the family fortunes. show less