I started reading Philippa Gregory books in my 20s. I loved the historical nature in her books and learning more about England’s history. I continue to be enamored with her writing with this series.

Although a little more of a slow start than some of her others, I understood the need for background and context. The hardship and lack of opportunity during this time in history was evident and showcased in Alinor’s story. She is a hard working midwife who has a vast knowledge of herbal remedies. Rumors swirl around her and her children, Alys and Rob.

Fully researched and engaging once the story got going, I really enjoyed this look into such a poverty- stricken and unsettled time. Religious and political unrest amplify the message. Neighbors turning against each other and accusing one another. Once this book hit the halfway point, it really took off.

I look forward to the other books in this series as the ending was a complete cliffhanger.

Thanks to NetGalley and Atria Books for an egalley in exchange for an honest review.

It's been a very long time since I relaxed with a Philippa Gregory novel and I was so happy to see this in the Read Now section of NetGalley. Set in Cromwell's England, this is the story of one ordinary family led by a woman just trying to get by. That's what makes Alinor a very fascinating character as she seems to rub all of her fellow villagers the wrong way. It's a bit of a slow burn of a novel but I did find it a great summer read. Despite the fact that history appears to be in the background and not the foreground, I just couldn't get enough of this family. Off to read book #2!

Publication Date 18/02/20
Goodreads review published 06/09/21

I did not finish - I have tried reading this book on multiple occasions and just could not get into it.

“She thought that the one thing that she had learned in this life, which had so many troubles and so few joys: she had at least learned to survive.”

When Alinor meets a strange man in the graveyard on Midsummers eve in 1648, her life will be forever changed. This is different from other stories I have read by this author. The main character is a very poor woman trying to get by after her husband fails to return home from sea. After a slowish start, the story really grabbed my attention. The characters were well developed and this historical account of life and superstition in 1647 England was very interesting. The story ends in a bit of a cliffhanger, and I am looking forward to reading the next book in this series.

Thank you Philippa Gregory, Simon & Schuster and Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.

DNF. I read several chapters twice, and the outcome was the same, I got nothing. I tried twice, it is a Netgalley and a time period that I'm unfamiliar with. I was bored and found myself looking for something else to read.

This may be a historical fiction time period for someone who will be excited to see the synopsis. This was my year to branch out from WWII. Based on my unfamiliarity with the era, I'm going with 3 stars, knowing I didn't finish it and not all time periods work for us all.

#Netgalley
#England1648

Very different from her other books. Not sure what I was expecting but this was not it. Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book

Philippa Gregory never disappoints but this book is truly spectacular. While most of her books focus on the royals in all their glorious cruelty and dysfunction, this new series is about the life of an impoverished woman - which I am sure was the majority of the people in that time. These women toiled along through their entire lives to survive from one day to the next, with absolutely no hope of ever improving their station in life. They suffered every indignity and cruel treatment from their husbands and even their own neighbors. I look forward to this series to see how Alinor and Alys continue as strong, independent women who will not compromise their beliefs and ethics even if it means they can move ahead in the smallest increment. As always the attention to historical detail is extraordinary and I learned way more about cutting and gleaning wheat than I even needed to know, but it certainly served to illustrate how hard these women worked, for so little return. I received this e-book from Atria through NetGalley and even though it is long past the publication date I appreciate the opportunity to read this book.

Tidelands is the first book in a new series written by Philippa Gregory, an author whose work I have read in the past. While I'm only fifty percent through devouring the Plantagenet and Tudor series (15-book collection), I was awarded the second book in this series via NetGalley, so I had to order the debut before jumping into the next one. What a great way to mix up the author's various series, enjoying her trademark beautifully penned historical fiction with a completely newly inspired time period and cast of intriguing characters.

Mid-seventh century. English coast. Poor village caught between kings and religion. Alinor is a young mother of two teenagers, and she finds herself helping a stranger in the dark. Her husband disappeared months ago, and her daughter wants to marry a local farmer who's several rungs on the ladder above her, at least social status-wise. Will Alinor risk helping the stranger? Will those who suspect her of being a witch finally cast their stones in public at her? Alinor falls for the man, and her assistance paves the way for her family to gain status and wealth. But with fortune comes a darker side, and they will all suffer the spoils.

Wow! At first, I was intrigued and focused, but I didn't feel compelled to read it each night. I was happy to take a break, until I hit the fifty-percent mark. Then it was a non-stop page-turner as everything that once magically spun into gold unraveled backward. That poor family! Those horrible neighbors! The greediness of men! Oh, Gregory pulled me in and held me tightly. Had the first half not been a bit slow, I would've given this five stars. And that ending - cliffhanger of all!!! I cannot wait to dive into book two next month. I'm taking a couple of weeks off (in between) just to let the ambiance of the story settle in. What a thrilling comparison to her other books.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publishers, and the author for giving me the opportunity to review this book. Philippa Gregory is an automatic buy for me. Her storytelling is incredible. After finishing Tidelands, I immediately want to go grab Dark Tides to see what happens next!

Sweeping and atmospheric, Tidelands brought me to Sealsea Island in Cromwell’s England, 1648. Gregory has such a gift for description in this highly detailed tale of witchcraft, faeries, and taboo romance. I really enjoyed this one.

Special thanks to Atria Books and NetGalley for a reader copy of this novel. All opinions shared are influenced by nothing other than my own reading experience.

I have always enjoyed Philippa Gregory and she hasn’t disappointed me in Tidelands.It is always nice to sit back and escape in time. I Am hoping for a third book in the series.

I received Tidelands as part of a NetGalley giveaway.

Mid-17th century England is a land at war with itself: as Cavaliers and Roundheads battle for supremacy, Alinor, a poverty-stricken woman from the Tidelands seeks to find a way forward for herself and her two children following her husband's disappearance and presumed death. In meeting the renegade priest James Summer, she finds herself courting danger. Yet even as the suspicious eyes of the community settle upon her, the pair engage in a passionate but ill-fated love affair, one that will have ramifications for generations to come.

I'm the opposite of most Philippa Gregory readers, I think, in that I can take or leave her royalty-focused fiction but am completely enthralled by the historical fiction featuring original characters., such as the Wideacre trilogy. So naturally, Tidelands hit all the right spots for me. Gregory has a gift for placemaking and atmosphere, and those talents really shine here: the poverty and precariousness of life in the marshes of Sussex, the dangers of the English Civil War, and the misogyny that runs rampant through it all. Very excited to read the rest of the series.

This is the first book in a new Series for Phillipa Gregory. Whilst I enjoyed this, I have not yet picked up the second which tells me that it didnt grip as i had hoped.

4 stars. Despite a somewhat slow start, Philippa Gregory does it again and shows why she is such a hallmark author in the genre of historical fiction, her books evoke the past and this is no different. Reading a good historical fiction novel is the next best thing to time travel and this title is just that.

Tidelands by Philippa Gregory was an epic, well-told and deeply feeling story. It is one that will stay with me for a long time!

The Book Maven’s Journal Reviews for Word Connoisseurs

REVIEWER: J.Hunt
STAR RATING ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Tidelands
A Novel by Philippa Gregory

Sincere Thanks to NetGalley, Atria Books and Washington Square Press for Providing this Review Copy

Veering from her specialty in fictional biographies of British monarchs, Philippa Gregory's new Fairmilie Series Book 1, Tidelands, gets off to an intriguing start when a local “cunning woman” waiting in a cemetery, under the watchful gaze of the Mid-Summers’ Eve moon, stumbles into a clandestine meeting with a spy.

Thus heralds the life-changing tides that will alter the course of Ailnor’s life, and those of her two children. Abandoned by her fisherman husband, she is a poor 17th C. midwife and herbalist raising two children hand-to-mouth on a small wetlands isle in Southern England.

Ailnor has few personal possessions, but what she does have is honor, honesty, integrity and faithfulness. These are also character traits that she values in others—especially those she loves.

Both beautiful and smart, a woman with her skills is always surrounded by whispers and jealousy—and sometimes gossip that can lead to deadly accusations. Will those individuals who Ailnor loves and trusts the most stand by her when she truly needs them?

We can always count on Author Philippa Gregory for personalized characters that are three-dimensional and well-developed. The Tidelands storyline is equally well-plotted and structured.

However, be prepared for an unexpected—abrupt—ending cliffhanger that packs a poignant to-the-heart punch. I personally prefer more complete resolutions in novel/book endings, nonetheless…
Luckily, a sequel to Tidelands, "Dark Tides," is available for those who “have a need to know…”

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(Check-out some of my other favorite Books and their Reviews that I've posted on Goodreads at the above link. I’ve written and posted more than 300 book reviews with an average of 3.98 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Star Rating Average on Goodreads.)

I love Philippa Gregory and historical fiction, but this book was a little slow, a little too detailed about the mundane things in the first ⅓ of the novel. I liked the book overall, but I wasn't gripped like I was with some of her previous works. So, it's good, but mainly for people who already love Gregory and love historical fiction-- who trust her as a writer and know that it'll be worth it to stick it out until the end.

I love the main character, Alinor. A young woman abandoned by her cruel husband and left in abject poverty, and who is determined to survive and provide for her two young teenage children in the face of not only poverty but the culture of the time that works against her. And despite it all she steadfastly remains polite, kind and loving. A very lovable character.

The story takes place during a time of uncertainty in England, at the end of the reign of King Charles I. The book starts slow but picks up after a few chapters, then starts to grip you all the way till the end.

Philippa Gregory Tidelands Simon & Schuster 2021

Thank you NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for providing me with this uncorrected proof for review.
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As usual Philippa Gregory places women at the centre of her well researched, engrossing historical novel. In Tidelands the descriptive prose introducing the setting is particularly evocative. The tidelands are far from Gregory’s depiction of the palaces and seat of the Tudors’ governance and intrigue established by famous figures. The Sussex coast, where water and land intermingle, creating danger for those who do not know the area, and mastery of the environment for those who do, is the location of much of the novel.

Here, the Ferryman family are part of the lower echelons of the hierarchy that exists even well removed from the royal court and London. They have the keeping of the ferry, together with the associated house, as part of their tenancy, handed down through the male line. Ned is the ferryman, his sister Alinor having married, lives in a poor cottage nearby with her children, Rob and Alys. Alinor has been deserted and must fend for herself with a mixture of relief that she is no longer the recipient of drunken blows, and fear that her and the children’s earnings will not keep the family.

The political and personal plotlines are established at the beginning of the novel, and intertwine throughout, neither gaining ascendancy in this multi-layered story. On Midsummer’s Eve, 1648. King Charles 1 is in enduring and erratic conflict with the parliament, under Oliver Cromwell. Ned has fought for Cromwell and remains politically committed. Alinor has avoided a political commitment but becomes involved on a personal level when she protects an emissary for the king on Midsummer’s night. Her strongest passions are for her independence from the control exerted by men, class and poverty and aspirations for her children.

The societal divisions are an integral part of the plot. However, with her meeting in the graveyard, Alinor asserts her independence of these divisions through her language and attitude towards Father James. He has been thwarted in finding safety in his journey to Sir William Peachey with information about the king. He must depend on Alinor’s silence and assistance. At the same time, Alinor cannot risk her mission being linked to witchcraft, always attendant on women who, like Alinor, are ‘wise women’ herbalists, healers, and midwives. The two are dependent on each other for silence. Their story works alongside that of Alys’s marriage plans; Rob’s ambition to join the East India Company; the miller’s wife’s uneasy position, socially above the two beautiful women, Alinor and Alys, but below Sir William Peachey, which results in her bullying, greed, and anger, pivotal to the plot.

There are glimpses of Charles 1, the despair his supporters endured through his vagaries and arrogance, and the resulting failures of plans leading to the trial and execution. The conflicts that remained over religion are also dealt with through personal and political storylines, the role of Father James becoming an important part of Alinor’s story despite class differences. Women’s dependence on men for their living, and the uneasy acceptance of their skills, even when they are lifesaving, are an essential part of the story. The nature of the work, hours spent with little rest, only to begin again early the next morning, become as real as the lives of the court in Gregory’s other work.

Like Gregory’s contemporary novels, Tidelands opens yet another world. Philippa Gregory excels here as she does with her more well-known historical works. I enjoyed reading Tidelands and was pleased to see that the story continues in Dark Tides.

"The #1 New York Times bestselling author and “one of the great storytellers of our time” (San Francisco Book Review) turns from the glamour of the royal courts to tell the story of an ordinary woman, Alinor, who cannot bear to conform to the life that lies before her.

Midsummer’s Eve, 1648, England is in the grip of a civil war between renegade king and rebellious parliament. The struggle reaches every corner of the kingdom, even the remote tidelands - the marshy landscape of the south coast.

Alinor, a descendant of wisewomen, trapped in 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 neighbors. 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.

It is dangerous for a woman to be different."

I love nothing more that Philippa Gregory and her cunning women!