Elizabeth Jane Corbett

The Tides Between is an immersive, well-crafted and beautifully written story with great characterisation and vivid prose. I felt every surging wave and creak aboard the Lady Sophia, the vessel on which almost all of the novel takes place. The journey from England to Australia is difficult, conditions are cramped, and morale is low.

Enter Rhys, a dreamer and storyteller, well-versed in the fairy tales of his homeland of Wales. He brings with him stories of witches, magic lakes, bards, dragons and cursed births. However, these ancient stories offer much more than mere escapism: the characters within the tales act as foils for the free settlers, bringing them face to face with their traumatic pasts.

“It’s not the stories that are at fault. Or that we were foolish to believe. Only that we must learn to see with different eyes.”

The fairy tales entwined throughout the story mirror and reflect the struggles of the main characters, especially Bridie and Rhys, who grapple with long-held secrets. In the case of fifteen-year-old Bridie, who is mourning the loss of her father and refusing to accept her new step-dad, the struggle is a particularly painful one. The use of story to help her make sense of the world was one of my favourite parts of the novel. The Tides Between is a deeply layered and skilfully told novel – a fantastic debut.… (altro)

"When the night is dark and the wind blows hard and shadows overwhelm you – there are always stories."

This beautiful story is about stories themselves: how our need and understanding of the stories we hear changes through the prism of our own experiences. It’s about how we make of our lives our own stories.

It’s about the hopes and dreams and foibles of utterly believable characters, Bridie, Sian, Rhys, Ma and Alf. And it’s about, I think, the tides tugging members of families, failed marriages, blended families, past traumas, grief, and the dead remembered, and how all these shape ourselves.

If you also like folklore and Celtic mysticism, and enjoy a meticulously researched historical novel, you too will love this fine novel.

In 1841 Bridie Stewart voyages in steerage with her mother and stepfather from London to the colony of Port Phillip, Victoria. (From the Blurb) ‘Desperate to save her childhood, fifteen-year-old Bridie is determined to smuggle a notebook filled with her father’s fairy tales to the far side of the world. When Rhys Bevan, a soft-voiced young storyteller .. realises Bridie is hiding something, a magical friendship is born. But Rhys has his own secrets.’

"If there wasn’t a single girl in the colony over the age of sixteen that meant girls were courting at the age of fifteen – her age .. There would be no time for wishes then, Ma said, no time for stories – only a long dark future without music or magic or fairies.”

I had to read on, had to know: is that dreary future all she can expect, all that anyone can expect in the end as the stark hardships of life strike home? Are stories and songs all nonsense, and the world drained of any kind of magic?

Certain novels strike different readers in different ways, of course, as all stories must. For me, and I do not say this lightly, the voyage I took in the company of these people was near perfection. It was all I want when I read.

I recommend also reading, and hearing, the fascinating support material on Elizabeth Jane Corbett’s website. You learn how this novel evolved in the authors mind, a journey that even led her to learn the tongue of the Welsh. You can hear how the Welsh words that appear in the story are pronounced, and also hear, hauntingly sung by Karla Quadara, The Song of Ianto’s Grief.… (altro)

This was such a beautiful and poignant story, with Welsh tales seamlessly woven in. I really connected with Bridie as she sought to hold on to her Dad's memory in the face of her Ma's anger and what she saw as her new stepfather's attempts to replace him. She bonds with a Welsh storyteller, Rhys, and the two of them use stories to ward off their fears during the arduous and traumatic journey to Australia in an 1800's migrant vessel. I am looking forward to reading what happens next for Bridie and Rhys.… (altro)