Dark Tides - Philippa Gregory

This is the second novel in the Fairmile series, and the first, Tidelands, was published in 2019. I really enjoyed the first book, and you can find my review from last year on my blog, and was highly anticipating the next segment of the story. The first book ended on such a cliffhanger, with our protagonist being dunked for a witch, so I was expecting the next instalment to pick up from where it left. However, Dark Tides begins twenty-one years later, on Midsummer's Eve in 1670, when Alinor's witch trial is long forgotten and she is now a fifty-something woman living by simple means creating herbs and medicinal teas with her daughter Alys. 

Two unexpected visitors arrive at their warehouse almost at once - the first, an old lover of Alinor's, James Avery, who betrayed her twenty-one years earlier and has returned a wealthy gentlemen with the favour of the newly restored King Charles II. He hopes to beg forgiveness, claim his illegitimate son whom Alinor had been expecting years earlier, and make amends by providing a comfortable life for her. The second visitor is the beautiful widow Nobildonna da Ricci who has come from Venice and claims that Alinor's son, Rob, has drowned there. She hopes to be accepted into the family by her in-laws, however Alinor's instincts tell her that her son, who had been very skilled on the water, is not drowned at all but in fact very much alive. She cannot explain her power of knowledge but feels in her heart that this Italian woman is an imposter.

This novel is a gripping sequel and a thrilling story, and definitely leaves you wanting more - when part three is published I will certainly be reading it. Gregory is imaginative and writes in a multi-layered way, with dynamic perspective changes and the addition of a political backdrop. I only wish that the novel had not strayed so far from its roots in the first, with the beautiful and eerie landscape of the Salsea marshes where Alinor roams at night. This novel transports us to London and Venice - far from the quaint isolation of the first - and I admit I was disappointed that the original location had been abandoned in favour of a city scene. There were also moments I found myself cringing (the wedding scene in particular, or the coincidentally lucky boat rescue), and found rather *eye roll*. That being said, most of this novel was gripping and enjoyable so do not let me put you off. I would definitely like to read some of Gregory's Plantagenet and Tudor novels to really appreciate the best of her writing.