Tidelands

June 3, 2019
Gregory (The Splendor Before the Dark) deviates from her usual focus on historical figures to shine a light on the plight of common women in 1640s England in the dynamic first book of her new Fairmile series. Alinor, a midwife with knowledge of herbal remedies, is in difficult circumstances. Her fisherman husband has been gone for months, and she must care for herself and her two growing children during a precarious time in England’s history. King Charles, forced off his throne by Parliament, has been banished to the Isle of Wight following his defeat in civil war. It’s also a period when a strong woman on her own, like the beautiful Alinor who has skills that others can’t understand, can easily be accused of being a witch; the author cleverly plants such seeds of suspicion throughout. At the open, Alinor meets a handsome, young Catholic priest, a royals champion with the means to help the king escape. She helps the priest find a haven, and their ensuing romance has devastating consequences for both. Against the backdrop of political turmoil, Gregory’s narrative displays the harrowing mores of the time, showcasing the vulnerability of women who speak their mind and introducing a family struggling out of poverty who will provide plenty of grist for the mill of a continuing saga. History buffs and Gregory’s fans alike will be anticipating the next installment.

June 15, 2019
The inaugural volume of Gregory's (Dark Tracks, 2018, etc.) new series is set during the English civil war. A wise woman is at the center of this launch. Alinor, an herbalist and midwife, is reminiscent of Jacquetta (The Lady of the Rivers, 2011), another Gregory protagonist, foundress of the Woodville dynasty of beautiful and resourceful women who figure in the War of the Roses and attract accusations of witchcraft. In 1648, the risk of such accusations is even higher, since Alinor lacks Jacquetta's noble lineage and because an army of Puritan Christians led by Oliver Cromwell has dethroned King Charles, now confined on the Isle of Wight. Extensive atmospherics slow the action but convey a strong sense of place--the Sussex tidelands, where, on Sealsea Island, Alinor earns a sparse living selling herbs and practicing the healing arts. She also invites scrutiny because her abusive husband disappeared months before. Detail abounds about the 17th-century economy of a small island: The local lord, Sir William, still holds sway thanks to a deal with Parliament, and his tenants each have their trade. Alinor's brother Ned, a staunch anti-royalist, runs the family ferry business, her daughter Alys, also beautiful, works for the miserly Mrs. Miller, whose family controls the tide-driven mill. Everyone makes their own ale. When Alinor meets James, a disguised Catholic priest who has been summoned by Sir William, her fortunes change for both good and ill. James, a spy from the exiled English court in France, is embroiled in a plot to rescue King Charles. With James' help, Alinor's son Rob is assured of a brighter future under Sir William's patronage. Alinor and the handsome James are instantly drawn to one another, and his vow of chastity falls to the wayside, with rather unpleasant results once he is called back to France. There are chilling descriptions of what Puritans in power are prepared to do to women who deviate from social norms--or merely incite envy. Once the jeopardy accelerates, this is Gregory par excellence. A promising start to a family saga about ordinary people.

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June 1, 2019
Perennially popular Gregory, renowned for her Plantagenet and Tudor novels, turns her attention away from the royals to weave a tale of an ordinary woman caught up in a web of extraordinary circumstances. The seventeenth-century English Civil War provides the tumultuous political backdrop for a tale steeped in history, superstition, and societal norms and restrictions. On a mission to free herself from an absent and abusive husband during an era when most women held little or no power, Alinor, a gifted herbalist, meets and subsequently guides a fugitive across the treacherous marshes of her native Tidelands, a decision that has very serious and long-lasting consequences. As Alinor begins to prosper, she arouses the suspicions of her neighbors, is accused of witchery, and must rely on her own wits and judgement in order to protect her family and provide for their future. A welcome topical pivot from gifted Gregory, the first entry in her promising Fairmile Series sets the stage for a multigenerational, multivolume saga about the rise of a family from rags to riches.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2019

On Midsummer's Eve in 1648, as the sword clash between king and parliament mounts, Alinor waits in a graveyard in England's south-coast Tidelands for a ghost who will free her from her brutal husband. Instead, she meets a young man on the run and guides him safely across the soul-hungry marshes, with consequences. With a 250,000-copy first printing.

Copyright 2019 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from July 1, 2019

Gregory, author of a number of highly acclaimed historicals, such as her series on the Plantagenets and Tudors (The Last Tudor), begins a new series with a gripping novel set during just a few months of the English Civil War. With her usual meticulous attention to detail, the author easily elicits the chaos and dangers of the mid-17th century. Unlike her other historical novels, this one focuses on a small, overlooked village at the very edge of England. It explores the unexpected ways in which chance encounters can alter the course of one's life. This series, as with John Galsworthy's "Forsyte Saga," follows the fortunes of one family. Alinor, a midwife and herbalist, deserted by her husband, lives mainly for her children. One night, she takes in a stranger who is loyal to the exiled King Charles I, changing her life and the lives of her children irrevocably. VERDICT This book will leave readers eagerly awaiting the next installment in the series. Fans of Gregory's works and of historicals in general will delight in this page-turning tale. [See Prepub Alert, 2/11/19.]--Pamela O'Sullivan, Coll. at Brockport Lib., SUNY

Copyright 2019 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.