Rising Tide

by Jean Thesman

It is 1908. Kate Keely has returned to a newly bustling San Francisco from her stay in Ireland-a trip she made as the hired companion to terminally ill Jolie Logan. Now, in the wake of Jolie's death, a grieving Kate needs to make a new life for herself. She and her friend Ellen Flannery pool their hard-earned money and rent a small shop. There, they will sell handmade Irish linens and dresses to wealthy women and college students, or so they hope. But there are many obstacles for two untried girls trying to establish a business-and not all of them are professional. Ellen is infatuated with a reckless, wealthy department store heir, while otherwise practical Kate can't stop thinking about the mysterious author of the travel journal she found on her trip home. This sequel to the acclaimed A Sea So Far opens a window into the past, and shows readers two winning, kindred spirits.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Young Adult, Friendship

224 pages, Hardcover

First published October 13, 2003

About the author

Jean Thesman was a widely read and award-winning American author known for her young adult fiction, with a career spanning over 25 years. Her novels often explored themes of family, identity, and belonging, frequently featuring heroines who find their place in the world by uncovering truths about their families and forming chosen connections. “I loved telling the story,” she once wrote, “because I really believed that families were made up of the people you wanted, not the people you were stuck with.”
Born with a passion for storytelling and literacy, she learned to read before starting school and recalled having to wait until she was six years old before being allowed her first library card. Throughout her career, she authored around 40 books, most under her own name but a few under the pseudonym T.J. Bradstreet.
Thesman published a wide range of novels for teens and middle-grade readers, including stand-alone works such as The Rain Catchers, Calling the Swan, and Cattail Moon, as well as series like The Whitney Cousins, The Birthday Girls, and The Elliott Cousins. Her lyrical style, emotional depth, and strong female characters earned her a loyal readership. Notable works like The Ornament Tree and In the House of the Queen’s Beasts remain particularly admired for their nuanced storytelling and emotional resonance.
She was a longtime resident of Washington state and an active member of The Authors Guild and the Society for Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. Jean Thesman passed away in 2016 at the age of 86, leaving behind a significant legacy in young adult literature.

Reviews

[Margo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rising tide was a good book. Some of the time it felt like a history book. Some times if felt like a romance book. Some of the times it felt like a symbolic book. Some times it felt like a mystery book. This had a lot a lot of a motions. There are two main characters in this book Kate and Ellen. In the story they both took turns telling their point of view, witch I find cool. When a friend of Kate finds a Journal thinking it was belongs to Kate, Kate has to find witch grumpy man this belongs to. Not long later Ellen and Kate are trying to open a shop ( witch they can find very hard in some cases.) called the Water Lily named after a little girl named Jolie. Jolie is a little girl Kate took care of in Ireland sadly who died. Then later on in the story Ellen mother is starting to suffer and then dies. And Kate starts to fall in love. It starts well it ends well. It was a pretty good I have to admit

[Nancy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a pretty uneventful, detailed story of boring frivolous high-society or not, the quest for independence and self-sufficiency, and I kept waiting for something to happen.

[Mary L. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although you think you know how it all turns out--you almost feel that there should be another sequel to this book. I like that the two Irish girls manage to make good and at the same time help others along the way.

[Kimberly Huddleston]

A very cute read.