#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 … 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.
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3 stars
I was excited to start Dark Tides, Philippa Gregory’s second book in her new series. I was particularly interested in getting reacquainted with Tidelands, main character Alinor, a midwife and herbalist. It is now twenty-one years later and the setting is moved to the river in London. She runs a business with her daughter, Alys. Answering a knock at the door, we find Livia, a young Italian dressed in black and carrying a baby. She professes to be Alinor’s son Rob’s widow. Something about her story does not sit right with Alinor but Alys gets along well with Livia. Soon, James Avery shows up to try to make amends with Alinor.
The starts of a good story. I found the first half of the book to move slowly even though the chapters are short. Gregory is a very good descriptive writer and the reader has “you are there feel” which I appreciate. And then there is Alinor’s brother Ned’s story. He is settled in New England. I felt like there were two different and independent stories. It didn’t add to the story other than maybe Gregory is preparing us for the third book.
I liked the last part of the book. I just think there needed to be some more editing in the first half of the book to improve the flow of the story. I will be interested to read the next installment. Thank you Atria Boks and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I liked the first half of this book very much. It’s about an impoverished, working class family of intergenerational women who run a dock in Restoration London. They receive word that the woman’s son has died in Italy and shortly afterwards his widow shows up with his infant son in tow. The mother, Alinor, is suspicious of the widow from the start and the parentage of the infant. Mystery ensues as the ambitious widow sends for her ‘furniture’ from Venice and attempts to involve the family in her import trade. That’s the first half. The second half things just fall apart. There is clearly some ‘bring up the bodies’ skeletons in the family’s closet concerning why the daughter in the family was left at the altar, pregnant on her wedding day– which never gets answered. Additionally, there is some witchcraft charge against the mother earlier in her life with led to the daughter’s disgrace and the altar jilting by a man we never know, and the mother being swum, nearly dying and miscarrying a child by another man– apparently both of them were pregnant at the same time? THIS man, however, tries decades later to make reparations to the family but is rebuffed. He thinks there’s a child and wants to claim him as an heir but is also rebuffed. He is told there is no child but these women lie all the time to protect each other and keep each others secrets so I was never quite sure if there was no baby or if the ‘twins’ by the daughter somehow incorporated the mother’s child. This got messy and then just flattens out– apparently there really were twins and the mother’s child really did die. There was such a build up for it going the other way though, that this was a let down as was the second half. The concluding climax was rushed and a bit preposterous.