Tide

Tide is a taut, compulsive novel about motherhood, marriage and the dangers of casting aside a woman's truth, that will appeal to readers of Soldier Sailor and Lullaby. In present-day West London, Imogen struggles to connect with her young son, preferring her stay-at-home husband to take the lead. Everything about Imogen is wrong: her lack of maternal instinct, her investment in her work and her impatience. At her husband's insistence, she agrees to take her son to the river to mudlark, only to watch in horror as he is dragged into the water by a huge, reptile-like creature, never to be seen again. In the aftermath, Imogen's sanity is called into question and, believing it'll save her, she forces herself to change her story. But as the secrets and lies mount, the frayed edges of her marriage begin to expose deeper wounds that are impossible to brush over. Addictive and unsettling, Tide shows a marriage in ruin and a mother - reeling and unmoored - that just wants to be believed.