Yesterday’s Tides is my first book by this author and I wasn’t disappointed. Oh my stars.

The basic premise is two generations of women living on the distant and isolated Ocracoke Island off the coast of North Carolina. The first in 1914 and the second in 1942. As this is a dual time novel, you fully understand the two stories will intertwine and these do, beautifully.

In the 1914 thread we meet Louisa Adair, who ekes out a living helping out at her family’s inn with with her widowed mom and several other women. The world is on the brink of war but Louisa’s life isn’t changing much until two new guests arrive for summer, half British Remington Culbreth and his boorish cousin. Rem delights in avoiding all his cousin’s plans and spends the summer falling deeply in love with a woman his family would never accept.

Fast forward to 1942 and while German U-boats stalk the waters of the North Atlantic, Evie Farrow helps run the family inn, until her orderly life is upended by a badly injured British intelligence officer, hunting a Germany spy. The two must work together and call on some of Evie’s surprising skills if they’re going to track him down before there’s bloodshed.

Where to start. For me, the book began slowly, because the author took time and care to set up the two plots. I spent a while trying to figure out exactly how the two fit. Then boom. All of a sudden, I couldn’t stop thinking about the characters. I wondered how Rem was doing, while making coffee, and if Louisa was okay, despite everything (not telling what I mean by ‘everything’). Over breakfast I had to pick my book up to see if Evie and Sterling had caught the rogue officer. So be warned. You will struggle to put this down.

As an avid reader who reads quickly, I’m often not as moved by some stories as I should be. This one brought me to tears for three minutes. I cannot recommend Yesterday’s Tides highly enough. If you enjoy love stories or survivor stories or war stories, the is a MUST READ.