This was a brilliant read. As soon as I started reading this book I just knew I was going to love it. Highly recommended

A beautifully written dual timeline story set in a haunting and ethereal setting of the outer Hebrides with 2 women living in a remote and crumbling old house at 2 different times. Both are flawed characters yet the reader will find they lean towards on or empathise with the other. A delightfully gothic feel to this eerie mystery.

Set in the Outer Hebrides, this book has excellent description of the wild landscape and weather. Hetty has inherited a house from a relative she barely knew existed. Escaping a difficult relationship in London she comes to see the place for herself. Running parallel to this modern story is the story of Beatrice. A newly wed young lady in the early twentieth century she is bought to this house by her husband, Theo. Theo is a famous and anguished painter who leaves Beatrice very much to her own devices.

Although this book is well written with excellent description, it is far from original. There are several cliches - anguished artist and young neglected wife who is attracted to a local man in the past thread. In the modern we have a woman who didn't know about her inheritance escaping a difficult relationship who also has some attraction for a local man & has a mystery to solve. I have recently read similar books including The Woman in the Mirror by Rebecca James. This does mean that the book is quite predictable and there were no sudden unexpected twists to lift it away from this.

I wasn't that taken with Hetty, the main character in the modern thread. I found her very weak & irritating. She seems to be unable to kick her boyfriend into touch and accepts being bossed around by him and his associates. It takes a long time for Hetty to stand up for herself and this made me very irritated. In fact in places I was quite surprised that this book was written by a woman as the author was very patronising towards Hetty. This really affected my enjoyment of the book. I am aware that not every woman - or man - can be strong and stand up for themselves but the author needed to provide the backstory to show why she was reliant on others and struggled to assert herself. This just didn't happen.

Had it not been for the character flaws of Hetty this would have been a four star book. It isn't original though the description is good. However, the character of Hetty really spoiled this book for me and resulted in its downgrading to 3 stars.

I received a free copy of this book via Netgallley.

The House Between Tides was a wonderfully atmospheric novel with everything I like in the genre - a strong mystery, beautiful descriptions of the landscape which make it an unacknowledged extra character, excellent characterisation and intricate, simmering conflicts. It has a very dark, gothic feel lightened with some truly uplifting moments. I thoroughly enjoyed this and highly recommend it to others.