The Witching Tide: The powerful and gripping debut novel for readers of Margaret Atwood and Hilary Mantel

Margaret Meyer

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A SUNDAY TIMES AND NEW YORK TIMES BEST HISTORICAL FICTION BOOK OF 2023

'A superb writer' EMMA STONEX'Stylish and raw' ANNE ENRIGHT

'Mesmerising and beautiful' DAILY EXPRESS

'Gripping and visceral ' IRISH EXAMINER

'A powerful, riveting read ' ELIZABETH MACNEAL

'Astonishingly absorbing' i PAPER

'That's a good thing about you, Martha. You keep secrets . . .'

East Anglia, 1645. Martha Hallybread, a midwife, healer and servant , is a trusted figure in her beloved coastal village of Cleftwater - even though no one has ever heard her speak.

One day, the peaceful atmosphere is disrupted by the arrival of a witch-hunter, and suspicion threatens to tear the community apart. When Martha is drawn into the search, she finds herself torn between protecting herself or her friends. As the tide of suspicion builds and events hurtle towards a terrible reckoning, Martha's silence is a choice that could cost her everything.

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Praise for The Witching Tide

  • A beautiful, haunting and utterly transporting novel that takes the reader back to a terrifyingly real witching England: a paranoid society where women's lives are decided by gossip and grudges. Told from the perspective of a silent woman whose inner voice insistently pulls the reader along, The Witching Tide is atmospheric, moving and lyrical - Naomi Wood, author of MRS HEMINGWAYI absolutely devoured The Witching Tide. Margaret Meyer evokes the uncanniness, the appalling cruelties of the witch trials in a way that is also thoroughly humane and shining. To read this book is to step inside time, to feel the bite of the sea air, to walk in the grime alongside Martha as she fights the tide of unspeakable cruelty and suspicion. It is a powerful, riveting read, each sentence pristine and haunting, and I can't wait to read what Margaret Meyer writes next - Elizabeth Macneal, author of THE DOLL FACTORYA timely, visceral novel that hurls the reader into a claustrophobic rural community riddled with suspicion, fear and recrimination. Margaret Meyer expertly creates an atmosphere of creeping dread, where no one is safe, and women find themselves punished for their own misfortunes and those of their erstwhile friends and neighbours - Natalie Haynes, author of A Thousand Ships

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Margaret Meyer

Margaret Meyer

Margaret Meyer was born in Canada, grew up in New Zealand and now lives in Norwich, England. She worked in publishing in New Zealand and then in and literature promotion before retraining in a second career as a mental health therapist. In 2020 she completed an MA in Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia. The Witching Tide is her first novel.

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