On Midsummer’s Eve, when the ghosts of dead sailors are known to visit, Alinor goes to the beach in search of closure, only to meet a living soul, James Summer. Alone, she struggles to raise her adolescent children, Rob and Alys, and to maintain her independence. Her struggles are confounded by dire poverty. With her negligent husband lost at sea but not confirmed dead, Alinor is caught in an uncomfortable limbo, neither a wife nor a widow. Our main character is Alinor Reekie, a herbalist and midwife who must walk a fine line if she is to avoid being accused of witchcraft. Unusually, the text inhabits the world of the era’s downtrodden poor, drawing inspiration from lives that never made the pages of history. Unlike most of Philippa Gregory’s other novels, Tidelands is not focused on royalty and recorded historical events. The narrative does cover the trial and execution of King Charles I, but only as a minor subplot. Tidelands is a historical novel set at the end of the English Civil War. Not a bad book, but not as good as I was expecting.
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