Tides of War

Description

Longlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction 2012, Tides of War is a sweeping epic set against the backdrop of Regency England and the battlefields of the Peninsular War. Newly-wed Harriet stands poised on the threshold of the adult world. Her husband, James, is setting off to join the Duke of Wellington's troops in Spain and left alone in London, Harriet is taken under the wing of Lady Wellington. While Harriet plunges into a new life of freedom at home, James faces the bloody reality of the battlefield.As war rages abroad and England stands on the brink of change, Harriet and James face hope and heartache in equal measure. From the mantillas and palms of Seville to the gas lamps of foggy London, Tides of War returns us to the vivid, lost world of the past.

Stella Tillyard has been described by Simon Schama as 'dazzling...a phenomenally gifted writer'. Her books include Aristocrats- Caroline, Emily, Louisa and Sarah Lennox,1740-1832; Citizen Lord- Edward Fitzgerald, 1763-1798, and most recently A Royal Affair- George III and his Troublesome Siblings. She has lived in the USA and Italy and now lives in London.

Hugely enjoyable... Intelligent, classy, entertaining * The Times * Seldom, since reading Jane Austen, have I so wanted to slip between the pages of a book and become one of its characters... She makes fiction as real as history and considerably more compelling -- Lucy Kellaway * Financial Times * Marvellous... Her descriptions are wonderful * Sunday Times * Tillyard perfectly inhabits her period... Gradually the plot's threads tighten to reveal a perfectly sprung novel * Daily Telegraph * Dazzling - I love this book. It's beautifully written, the characters are deeply involving and the historical settings are so right - in short, Tides of War is a triumph -- Simon Schama