Tides of War
A Novel
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3.6 • 32 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
A Library Journal Top Ten Best Books of 2011
An epic novel about love and war, set in Regency England and Spain during the Peninsular War (1812-15), by the acclaimed historian and bestselling author of Aristocrats
Tides of War opens in England with the recently married, charmingly unconventional Harriet preparing to say goodbye to her husband, James, as he leaves to join the Duke of Wellington's troops in Spain.
Harriet and James's interwoven stories of love and betrayal propel this sweeping and dramatic novel as it moves between Regency London on the cusp of modernity—a city in love with science, the machine, money—and the shocking violence of war in Spain. With dazzling skill Stella Tillyard explores not only the effects of war on the men at the front but also the freedoms it offers the women left behind. As Harriet befriends the older and protective Kitty, Lady Wellington, her life begins to change in unexpected ways. Meanwhile, James is seduced by the violence of battle, and then by love in Seville.
As the novel moves between war and peace, Spain and London, its large cast of characters includes the serial adulterer and war hero the Duke of Wellington, and the émigrés Nathan Rothschild and Frederic Winsor who will usher in the future, creating a world brightly lit by gaslight where credit and financial speculation rule. Whether describing the daily lives and desires of strong female characters or the horror of battle, Tides of War is set to be the fiction debut of the year.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In her first novel, historian Tillyard (Aristocrats) intertwines fictional newlyweds Harriet and James Raven with the historical duke and duchess of Wellington, along with other real and imaginary characters, to give a broad perspective on English society of the early 19th century. Captain Raven sets off to help Wellington drive elder Bonaparte Joseph from Spain, while his plucky bride heads for London in pursuit of science. Tillyard adds observations from Spanish artist Francisco Goya, investor/banker Nathan Rothschild, soldiers and scientists, and wives, widows, and mistresses to reveal the devastation of the Peninsula War and the evolution of London into a modern city where resourceful women can attain unprecedented freedom. Harriet explores science with Fredric Winsor, while the duchess invests shrewdly so that financial fortunes change with the fortunes of war. A better storyteller than inventor, Tillyard is at her best with historical figures and when depicting the era; readers share Harriet's discovery of the waltz, Jane Austen, and ice cream, and witness cutting-edge battlefield surgeries under real-life Surgeon Gen. James McGrigor. Tillyard needs only characters as complex as her historical figures, and relationships as intriguing, to rank among the best of the historical fiction scribes re-imagining women of the past.
Customer Reviews
To many adjectives
A good tale weighed down by being overly descriptive. It made the read tedious and slow going. It could have been a page turner, if not bogged down by heavy prose.