Title: Tidelands           

Author: Philippa Gregory        

Genre: Historical Fiction       

Publisher: Atria Books        

Format: Paperback 

Pages: 448

Rating: 5/5 stars 

Synopsis (Goodreads):

 

THE BRAND NEW SERIES FROM THE SUNDAY TIMES NUMBER ONE BESTSELLING AUTHOR

England 1648. A dangerous time for a woman to be different . . .

Midsummer’s Eve, 1648, and England is in the grip of civil war between renegade King and rebellious Parliament. The struggle reaches every corner of the kingdom, even to the remote Tidelands – the marshy landscape of the south coast. 

Alinor, a descendant of wise women, crushed by poverty and superstition, waits in the graveyard under the full moon for a ghost who will declare her free from her abusive husband. Instead she meets James, a young man on the run, and shows him the secret ways across the treacherous marsh, not knowing that she is leading disaster into the heart of her life.

Suspected of possessing dark secrets in superstitious times, Alinor’s ambition and determination mark her out from her neighbours. This is the time of witch-mania, and Alinor, a woman without a husband, skilled with herbs, suddenly enriched, arouses envy in her rivals and fear among the villagers, who are ready to take lethal action into their own hands. 

 

Review:

Thank you to @simonschusterca for sending me a copy of this book!

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I think this book was my most anticipated release of the year and it did not disappoint! It focuses on Alinor, who is a young woman living in the Tidelands with her daughter and son, her husband away at sea. She does know if he is dead, which puts her in an awkward position, as she is neither wife nor widow. The community fears that she and her family would fall upon the community in poverty, which is a dangerous position to be in as many women are accused of witchcraft and executed in this case! 

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The book also takes place during and interesting and turbulent time in English history: the English Civil War, when parliament declares war against the king, and Oliver Cromwell comes into a place of leadership! Those who are Catholics must hide, as it’s against the law to practice the old faith! 

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The one thing I really liked about this book was how women were represented in society during this time. Alinor must grow and sell herbs, and deliver babies as a midwife in order to make money and survive, but she is treated as an outcast in society because she does not have a man to represent her! It was also interesting to hear how women can be accused of being witches! I’m excited that this is a series, and I don’t know how I’m going to wait for the next book! I want it now!

 

Happy reading!