The Returning Tide

Author/Guide: Liz Fenwick

Why a Booktrail?

1939: War divides and the gap between sisters can widen beyond repair

ISBN: 978-1409162100
Genre: Fiction, Mystery

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What you need to know before your trail

In the midst of the war, as Cornwall prepares for potential invasion, two sisters, Amelia and Adele, find the influx of American GIs a welcome distraction from the grim realities of life. But on a heady night of celebration, a betrayal is committed that will divide the sisters for ever, and echo across generations…

When her marriage falls apart and her career stalls, Lara decides to head back to Windward, the rambling house on the Cornish cliffs she’s only ever seen in old family photographs. On arrival, she’s thrown into the midst of a wedding; but it’s a union which appears cursed to fail, according to the best man…

Can a house really be haunted by its past?

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Travel Guide

From Cornwall, to Dorset via London and across to Cape Cod

This story is inspired on the real life events of the Exercise Tiger, aka Operation Tiger and the Slapton Sands disaster. The author’s other in law June Fenwick played a part as she had been a telegraphist during the war. She told Liz about the night that the Eboats came among the US troops practicing for D Day for she had been working with the Americans that night. She spoke of the horrific moment that the men on the boats stopped transmitting in code and started to used plain language in panic.

That was the 28 April 1944 – the day when there was tragic loss of life. The author states that it was covered up for many reasons, the main one being that there was an upcoming D Day invasion.

The setting of this novel will make you shed many tears – It brings to life the dark reality of war, and not just for those on the frontline. The trauma of being so far away, so far removed from the fighting but still at the heart of the battle. That lack of power, the human need to survive and the harrowing truth of experiencing something and having to live with that knowledge.

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Booktrailer Review

Susan @thebooktrailer

This is quite a departure for Liz Fenwick whose romance novels I have loved in the past – all homages to Cornwall. But this one shines brighter for me. Such a sad and poignant story which has real meaning for Liz and her family. I can only imagine the emotions involved in writing this but I think your mother in law and her colleages would be very proud. It’s a difficult tale to retell and the horror of wartime on lovely sunny Cornwall is hard to imagine. But telling it via the tale of two sisters who enjoy the beaches and the sunshine before hell breaks loose is a nice way of doing it.

I did struggle a bit with the rapid time changes at the start of the book but stick with it as this all becomes clear. Might be hard reading on a kindle though. I think the story would have worked equally well with less back and forth but overall I could look back and appreciate the build up.

It’s an interweaving tale between the war years and the present day and it weaves an impression on you like a spell of a kind. A poignant story that I felt proud to have read.