Dark Tides, Philippa Gregory
Dark Tides, Philippa Gregory
10 Rating(s)
List: $29.99 | Sale: $21.00
Club: $14.99

Dark Tides

Author: Philippa Gregory

Narrator: Louise Brealey

Unabridged: 17 hr 22 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 11/24/2020


Synopsis

#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.

About Philippa Gregory

English born author, Philippa Gregory, received her degree in History from the University of Sussex, followed by a PhD in 18th century literature from the University of Edinburgh. Along the journey of her education, she discovered that she had an uncommon interest in the Tudor period. Using her history background, she first wrote The Other Boleyn Girl, which to her credit, was made into a TV drama, and followed by a major film.

Gregory has put much of her effort and personal money into a 20 year old charity that she founded. It is Gardens for The Gambria, that teaches school children to plant market gardens which are irrigated by the almost 200 wells that the author has funded. She is also a patron of The UK Chagos Support Association, a displaced people in the Indian Ocean.

Gregory was selected as the 2008 Edinburgh University Alumna of the Year. She lives with her family on a small farm in Yorkshire.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Chrissie on November 16, 2020

Dark Tides, the sequel to Tidelands, suffers from a number of flaws — namely, poor characterization, no atmosphere (which she actually had going for her in Tidelands), and the most transparent, preposterous, and convoluted storyline imaginable. If there's a third in this series, I will not be return......more

Goodreads review by Jennifer ~ TarHeelReader on December 28, 2020

As an old fan of Philippa Gregory’s, though I haven’t read a book from her in a number of years, I am excited I had the opportunity to read her new Fairmile series, including Tidelands and Dark Tides. Most of the books I’ve read by Gregory have been centered on royalty, but these two books focus on......more

Goodreads review by James on October 03, 2021

Dark Tides is the 2nd book in The Fairmile series written by Philippa Gregory. I've read about half of her Plantagenet and Tudor series, and I aim to complete it by the end of this year... but when the two books in this series popped up earlier this summer, I got copies and jumped right in. I defini......more

Goodreads review by Veronica ⭐️ on July 19, 2022

Dark Tides is book 2 in The Fairmile series. Tidelands (book1) left us with two strong, determined women leaving Sealsea Island, heading to London to start a new life. I was excited to to see how Alinor and her daughter Alys would fair in this new adventure. Dark Tides is set 21 years later. Alys has......more

Goodreads review by Kathryn on December 05, 2020

On one day in June of 1670, elderly Alinor Reekie receives two unexpected visitors at her humble home in London. One is her lover from many years ago. The other is a beautiful young Italian woman named Livia. Livia claims to be the widow of Alinor’s son Rob, who was a physician in Venice. But Alinor......more


Quotes

"Louise Brealey's performance is just one good reason to listen to the second in Philippa Gregory's Fairmile series. Gregory's unparalleled storytelling is another. Alinor's health never recovered after being 'swum' as a witch in the tidelands in 1648. It's now 1670. Alinor's close-knit family members live peaceful, if hardworking, lives in London. Their quiet is disrupted by two unwelcome visitors: Sir James, who abandoned pregnant Alinor 21 years earlier, and Livia, the devious alleged widow of Alinor's son. Brealey's delivery is subtle and nuanced or over-the-top, as needed. She is especially credible portraying Alinor's brother, Ned, in America. Her depictions of white settlers and natives are believable, making clear the rising animosities between them and chilling listeners with their struggles during the harsh New England winter."