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.).

June 1, 2016
Last night, debut author Maine dreamed of a contemporary spin on classic Gothic tropes.Orphan Hetty Deveraux has inherited a crumbling, wind-battered mansion on remote Muirland Island in western Scotland, "on the edge of the world." The day she arrives to inspect her new property, however, local assessor James Cameron finds a skeleton beneath the floorboards. Who is it, and how long has it been there? Abandoned since the war, the house was the refuge of Theo Blake, a Turner-esque painter-turned-mad recluse and a distant relative of Hetty's. At loose ends since the deaths of her parents, Hetty hopes restoring the house will serve as a new beginning. Meanwhile, in 1910, Theo Blake brings his new bride to Muirland House, whose landscapes have inspired some of his most famous paintings. Maine skillfully balances a Daphne du Maurier atmosphere with a Barbara Vine-like psychological mystery as she guides the reader back and forth on these storylines. The two narrative threads are united by the theme of conservation versus exploitation: Muirland is a habitat for several species of rare birds, threatened in the 1910 plot by Blake's determination to kill and mount them for his collection and in the 2010 story by Hetty's half-formed plans to transform Muirland House into a luxury hotel. Local man Cameron wants to see the island preserved as "a precious place, wild and unspoiled, a sanctuary for more than just the birds." The setting emerges as the strongest personality in this compelling story, evoking passion in the characters as fierce as the storms which always lurk on the horizon. A debut historical thriller which deftly blends classic suspense with modern themes.

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June 1, 2016
As the last surviving relative of Theo Blake, Hetty has inherited the eccentric painter's beloved summer home, located on an island in the Outer Hebrides. Hetty had thought that this manor home, now more than a century old, would be a great investment as a hotel and retreat. When she arrives for a better look, however, she finds that the building is near collapse, and the locals are less than enthusiastic about her proposition. Worse, James Cameron, the local man hired to assess the house, finds bones buried beneath the observatory, the remains of someone who died under suspicious circumstances. With James bending her ear one way, and her pushy London boyfriend the other, uncertain Hetty sets about solving the mystery of the skeleton, hoping that unraveling the story will help her decide what to do. Maine contrasts Hetty's present-day consternation with the past story of Blake and his wife, delivering details at a perfectly suspenseful pace. Though the romantic story line is fairly transparent, the historic mystery will keep readers guessing right up until the end.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)