Customer Reviews

The Flood-Tide

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#9: 1772-1789; covers the American Revolution; the Enclosure Acts

It is the eve of the American Revolution--a time where there is "a tide in the thoughts of men, and the tide is making." Jemima is the family matriarch, married to Allen Macallen and the mother of seven. Thomas Morland a captain in the Navy, while Jemima's son William joins as a midshipman. Meanwhile, their cousin Charles, a botanist and entomologist, cuts himself off from the family in order to marry a Creole woman in Maryland; and Henri Stuart, illegitimate son of Aliena's daughter, is a libertine in Paris.

Another strong addition to the series; the gaps between books are shorter, and the time covered is also getting shorter, which is definitely a good thing. CHE focuses a lot more on character development so that the reader finds themselves rooting for the protagonists--even Henri, though his deception with regards to his wife truly is despicable. With regards to the married couples in this novel, the only marriage that truly is happy is Allen and Jemima's--they're a bit too smug-married-couple at times, but they're a nice foil to the dysfunctional marriages here.

Harrod-Eagles always smuggles in a bit of history with her fiction; this time she mostly covers the American Revolution and the Enclosure Acts that so changed the landscape of England in the late 18th century. There are other, smaller, changes, too, as Morland Place gains a bell system for its servants. We witness the Revolution mostly from afar, from sea rather than by land, but nonetheless, I was entertained by Harrod-Eagles's telling of the story. The book ends at the start of the French Revolution, and I look forward to reading more in the next book in the series, The Tangled Thread.

It's 1772 and England in the reign of George the third is a peaceful country, but big trouble is brewing in the American colonies with the Americans determined on independence, even at the cost of a war. Trouble is also brewing in France with the general populace wanting to do away with the monarchy and the nobility. The inhabitants of Morland Place, Allan Morland and his wife Jemima are happily ensconced, raising their brood of seven children. The adventurer of the family, Jemima's brother, Charles, emigrates to Maryland where he marries the daughter and heir of a wealthy French gentleman and becomes entangled in the American revolution. Jemima's eldest son Edward has a crisis of identity and is happy to stay at home and to help his father run the estate, while the second eldest, William, finds his true love to be the sea and spends the next years progressing to be a flag officer in the navy.. Meanwhile, in Paris, the black sheep of rhe family, illegitimate Henri, makes a respectable living as an interior designer, assisting the nobility with the refurbishment of their homes and gardens and raising his daughter, Heloise, in the lull before the storm.