The House Between Tides

March 28, 2016
Muirlan Island in Scotland’s Outer Hebrides provides the sensuous setting for British author Maine’s impressive debut, which charts the parallel quests of two women a century apart. In 1910, Beatrice Blake, a young bride, and her husband, eminent painter Theo Blake, travel from Edinburgh to Theo’s estate on Muirlan island, Muirlan House. For all Beatrice’s efforts to be a loving wife, their marriage doesn’t last. In 2010, copy editor Hetty Deveraux, a descendant of Theo and the estate’s new owner, journeys from London to Muirlan House, which she plans to fix up as a hotel and sell. When decades-old human bones turn up buried in the sand on Muirlan, Hetty seeks to identify the remains, whose owner clearly met foul play. In researching the former residents of Muirlan House, Hetty eventually discovers what drove Beatrice and Theo apart. The revelations are inevitable yet unforced. Vivid descriptions of the island’s landscape and weather enhance this beautifully crafted novel. Agent: Fiona Brownlee, Brownlee Donald Associates (U.K.).

Narrator Justine Eyre imbues Maine's debut novel with just the right sense of gothic mystery. In 1910, newlyweds Beatrice and Theo Blake move to Theo's estate, Muirlan House, on Muirlan Island in Scotland's Outer Hebrides. In 2010, Theo's distant relative, Hetty Deveraux, becomes the estate's new owner. After Hetty takes possession, long-buried human skeletal remains are found, apparently indicative of foul play. Eyre delivers the alternating time periods and characters, keeping the voices unique and the period diction spot-on. The mystery of the skeleton connects to the conflict that arises when Hetty wants to turn the house into a luxury hotel despite the objections of a local man who wants to preserve the land as a nature sanctuary. It's all somewhat predictable, but in the nicest way, Eyre makes this entertaining listening. S.J.H. � AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine