What do you think?
Rate this book
Keeper of Tides
At age ninety-two, Ivadoile Spears is in the grip of early dementia. Alone except for a cat named Rose and an old cedar box filled with photographs, Ivadoile is stubbornly set on living out her remaining years in the now-vacant Tides Inn on Cape Breton Island. The only child of cold and withdrawn parents and widowed by the age of twenty-eight, a younger Ivadoile turned the Tides Inn into a retreat for the broken-spirited. But she had not been prepared for Ambrose Kane – a southerner who entered, bringing a cold wind in his dirty shirt.
- GenresFiction
240 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 2014
3 people are currently reading
54 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
March 24, 2020
Ivadoile Spears ran Tides Inn, a successful business on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean on the southeastern side of Cape Breton Island. She had inherited the large home with seven bedrooms from her husband, a country doctor twenty-five years her senior who died unexpectedly eight years after they were married. They had no children, but that was never a worry for Iva. She preferred cats to children and always had one in the house named after Rose, her first cat who came to a violent end at the hands of her father. Iva ran the inn with the help of Margaret her neighbor whose great cooking brought visitors back year after year, Gladys her often clumsy cleaner, who rolled her own cigarettes and who Iva forced to smoke outside and Bertie, caretaker, groundskeeper and gardener extraordinaire.
When the narrative begins Ivadoile (who comes to be known as Iva), is a young girl, the only child living with parents who hardly speak to each other. When the novel closes, she is ninety-two struggling with a deepening dementia and the ghosts and fading memories of the people and guests at the inn who shaped her life. She keeps a box of photographs in a cedar box which she goes through, remembering those from her past who came to her door with their luggage for their visit and their baggage from the past.
As memories appear in her thoughts, barns and room number seven at the inn come to play a significant role in events that unfolded over time. It was while she was playing with her cat in the hayloft in the barn that she caught her father and her mother’s cousin Opal naked in the hay; it was in the barn that an unknown ballet dancer and Iva’s lover tried out new steps on the old floor as Iva peeked through the slats. And it was in room number seven, that Iva, a lusty, robust and vigorous lover lay savoring the physicality of sated desire.
Something else evokes frequent memories, Iva’s old doll Victoria, now a fading half broken toy, a Christmas present from her parents that stayed through the years in one of the rooms and can still provide comfort to those who need it.
Bowser was Iva’s first lodger, an American salesman from New England who arrived in a green Chevy with a caged parrot called Humphrey and accompanied him everywhere. He would sell his fine suit cloth up and down the New England Coast and became a regular visitor.
Ambrose Kane from Georgia sailed on a freighter for a living and was enticed to visit the inn by its reputation for food. He lodged at the inn on and off for six years whenever his freighter docked. Both Iva and Margaret had strong feelings for him.
Esther Neuland arrived from somewhere out west, a blowsy dyed blond with the scent of rum on her breath; an emotionally wrecked woman in her sixties who tried too hard to look forty. When she came to the inn she had recently been divorced, still full of anger for her husband who left her for another younger woman and eager to start a new life.
Violet Summers was a young woman who had polio at the age of four and now walked with an iron brace. A fierce and determined young woman, she had traveled the world on her two miserable legs and was also in remission with leukemia.
Angelo Pinotti an elderly man in his sixties arrived from Montreal, coming he said for the gardens. He was a very neat well organized man, an ex-priest who left religious life to become a psychiatrist, he asked that three roses be placed on his bedside every night. Margaret was fond of him and it was she who discovered him one morning stretched out in full priestly regalia ready to meet his maker.
James (Jimmy) Kalabash looked like a hobo when he first came to the stairs of the inn but Margaret let him in and he proved to be a most interesting guest. He played the piano and sang and there were many nights when he delighted the other guests as they gathered around the piano, laughing and singing.
However the focus of the narrative is on the enduring relationship between Iva and Margaret, at first as employee and employer, but later held firmly together by their past. In their youth both had been fine looking women, although Margaret was always acknowledged as the prettier of the two. They had completely opposite personalities. Iva was cranky, quick to criticize and a demanding boss, never known to lavish compliments on her staff. She had no domestic skills, proving quite early in life she couldn’t cook, sew or make a pie. Margaret was the quiet demure one, the great cook, the compliant employee and the faithful member of her own family who stayed home to care for her mother when her sisters took the first opportunity they could to flee to New York and another life. Margaret belonged to the world of strict Catholicism, the world of saints and apparitions while Iva an atheist, was quick to make caustic remarks about Margaret’s religion.
Both women had their secrets, about each other and about their guests. Secrets they hold to for a lifetime until they finally share them in their fading years.
Margaret was eight years younger than Iva and as the two grew older and Iva’s body became frail, her mind began to wander although her tongue could still swing like an axe with her cutting remarks. It was the way she had always been. She knew she was not always well liked by anyone, but she never cared. Nevertheless, Margaret visited her regularly and helped care for her. Iva came to depend on that care, although she never would admit it. At one point in her reveries, Iva tells Margaret that she was always jealous of her beauty and the fact she was so well liked by everyone.
There had always been tension between the two women, but Margaret came to realize over the years that Iva was a woman just like her. She had criticized and misjudged her many times in the past and now, feeling she must serve some kind of penance, takes responsibility to care for her friend. She finds Iva’s moods exhausting and her care a heavy burden as her memories fade and she becomes more confused with each passing day, but Margaret never considers leaving her friend.
I was only one chapter into this novel before being lovingly seduced by the quality of the writing. This is not a book to be rushed. One must sit and savour the quality of the writing as both Iva and Margaret remember the past and the complicated but surefast relationship they shared over many years. The narrative evokes everything from laughter to tears as past events, guests, ghosts and lovers are remembered and marked through the passage of time.
It proved to be a very charming read.
When the narrative begins Ivadoile (who comes to be known as Iva), is a young girl, the only child living with parents who hardly speak to each other. When the novel closes, she is ninety-two struggling with a deepening dementia and the ghosts and fading memories of the people and guests at the inn who shaped her life. She keeps a box of photographs in a cedar box which she goes through, remembering those from her past who came to her door with their luggage for their visit and their baggage from the past.
As memories appear in her thoughts, barns and room number seven at the inn come to play a significant role in events that unfolded over time. It was while she was playing with her cat in the hayloft in the barn that she caught her father and her mother’s cousin Opal naked in the hay; it was in the barn that an unknown ballet dancer and Iva’s lover tried out new steps on the old floor as Iva peeked through the slats. And it was in room number seven, that Iva, a lusty, robust and vigorous lover lay savoring the physicality of sated desire.
Something else evokes frequent memories, Iva’s old doll Victoria, now a fading half broken toy, a Christmas present from her parents that stayed through the years in one of the rooms and can still provide comfort to those who need it.
Bowser was Iva’s first lodger, an American salesman from New England who arrived in a green Chevy with a caged parrot called Humphrey and accompanied him everywhere. He would sell his fine suit cloth up and down the New England Coast and became a regular visitor.
Ambrose Kane from Georgia sailed on a freighter for a living and was enticed to visit the inn by its reputation for food. He lodged at the inn on and off for six years whenever his freighter docked. Both Iva and Margaret had strong feelings for him.
Esther Neuland arrived from somewhere out west, a blowsy dyed blond with the scent of rum on her breath; an emotionally wrecked woman in her sixties who tried too hard to look forty. When she came to the inn she had recently been divorced, still full of anger for her husband who left her for another younger woman and eager to start a new life.
Violet Summers was a young woman who had polio at the age of four and now walked with an iron brace. A fierce and determined young woman, she had traveled the world on her two miserable legs and was also in remission with leukemia.
Angelo Pinotti an elderly man in his sixties arrived from Montreal, coming he said for the gardens. He was a very neat well organized man, an ex-priest who left religious life to become a psychiatrist, he asked that three roses be placed on his bedside every night. Margaret was fond of him and it was she who discovered him one morning stretched out in full priestly regalia ready to meet his maker.
James (Jimmy) Kalabash looked like a hobo when he first came to the stairs of the inn but Margaret let him in and he proved to be a most interesting guest. He played the piano and sang and there were many nights when he delighted the other guests as they gathered around the piano, laughing and singing.
However the focus of the narrative is on the enduring relationship between Iva and Margaret, at first as employee and employer, but later held firmly together by their past. In their youth both had been fine looking women, although Margaret was always acknowledged as the prettier of the two. They had completely opposite personalities. Iva was cranky, quick to criticize and a demanding boss, never known to lavish compliments on her staff. She had no domestic skills, proving quite early in life she couldn’t cook, sew or make a pie. Margaret was the quiet demure one, the great cook, the compliant employee and the faithful member of her own family who stayed home to care for her mother when her sisters took the first opportunity they could to flee to New York and another life. Margaret belonged to the world of strict Catholicism, the world of saints and apparitions while Iva an atheist, was quick to make caustic remarks about Margaret’s religion.
Both women had their secrets, about each other and about their guests. Secrets they hold to for a lifetime until they finally share them in their fading years.
Margaret was eight years younger than Iva and as the two grew older and Iva’s body became frail, her mind began to wander although her tongue could still swing like an axe with her cutting remarks. It was the way she had always been. She knew she was not always well liked by anyone, but she never cared. Nevertheless, Margaret visited her regularly and helped care for her. Iva came to depend on that care, although she never would admit it. At one point in her reveries, Iva tells Margaret that she was always jealous of her beauty and the fact she was so well liked by everyone.
There had always been tension between the two women, but Margaret came to realize over the years that Iva was a woman just like her. She had criticized and misjudged her many times in the past and now, feeling she must serve some kind of penance, takes responsibility to care for her friend. She finds Iva’s moods exhausting and her care a heavy burden as her memories fade and she becomes more confused with each passing day, but Margaret never considers leaving her friend.
I was only one chapter into this novel before being lovingly seduced by the quality of the writing. This is not a book to be rushed. One must sit and savour the quality of the writing as both Iva and Margaret remember the past and the complicated but surefast relationship they shared over many years. The narrative evokes everything from laughter to tears as past events, guests, ghosts and lovers are remembered and marked through the passage of time.
It proved to be a very charming read.
October 10, 2025
Bought this from the local author while on a New England cruise. I loved how she word painted for me. She sets quite the scene. I wish the ending had a little more detail. It seemed like a secret was being kept, in the end it was.
October 7, 2014
Beautiful descriptive settings . The old Inn, an older house seeps into my mind while I study my old house which does not come near the wonderful ambience of the Tides Inn. Old Rose, the beloved cat immerses the story with aching love of a dear pet. The Inn is full of remembrances which bring about a return of love and loss. Old Ivadoile reminisces over her past loves and heartaches, and her parental lack of loving for each other and her. In her old age her mind plays tricks on her as she entertains and encounters old friends and lovers in her mind. The wandering mind of an old lady accompanies us throughout the book as characters fade in and out as such is life. Perhaps a state of mind and experience which awaits many of us as we age. Ivadoile brought my two grandmothers to mind. An absorbing and interesting read so well presented.
November 7, 2016
Main character is ivadoile Spears, a 92 year old woman who's showing signs of dementia. Iva, as she's more commonly called, was the keeper of Tides Inn on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. She's a widow of a doctor who's been gone many years.
Iva returns again and again to a cedar box where she keeps photographs of people she's lost over the years. Memories flood back recalling these people, her parents, cousin Opal from the United States as well as many of whom were connected with the Inn: Margaret, the inn's cook and some guests, lovers. As she recalls the people, past and present merge in her mind as the dementia progressively worsens.
This is a woman who has experienced a lot, she's complex, bold, and found her sometimes aggressive at times. Iva was crotchety, combative at times, Perhaps this was due to her upbringing which was not emotionally healthy. Her parents had an unhealthy marriage. Her father had a physical relationship with an American cousin that ended the marriage. Iva remarked that her mother was a bit crazy. While reading this book, at times I wondered if Iva was afflicted in the same way though maybe not to the same extent? Although I overall liked the book, I did not particularly like Ivadoile, there was something off putting about her, something that I can't quite put my finger on.
Iva returns again and again to a cedar box where she keeps photographs of people she's lost over the years. Memories flood back recalling these people, her parents, cousin Opal from the United States as well as many of whom were connected with the Inn: Margaret, the inn's cook and some guests, lovers. As she recalls the people, past and present merge in her mind as the dementia progressively worsens.
This is a woman who has experienced a lot, she's complex, bold, and found her sometimes aggressive at times. Iva was crotchety, combative at times, Perhaps this was due to her upbringing which was not emotionally healthy. Her parents had an unhealthy marriage. Her father had a physical relationship with an American cousin that ended the marriage. Iva remarked that her mother was a bit crazy. While reading this book, at times I wondered if Iva was afflicted in the same way though maybe not to the same extent? Although I overall liked the book, I did not particularly like Ivadoile, there was something off putting about her, something that I can't quite put my finger on.
September 10, 2022
It took a little bit for me to warm up to this book but it just kept growing on me. I was sorry for it to end. I wanted to know more about Ivadoile and her old cat Rose, and Margaret, Iva’s former employee and only living friend. Iva is 92 now, still living in the inn that she used to run. Margaret is just a few years younger, and Rose is right up there with them in cat years. The book moves around from the present day to memories of people in the past. Sometimes humorous, sometimes touching, sometimes bittersweet. Nicely done.
August 31, 2020
Beautiful imagery, but if you are looking for something fast paced, this is not it. I feel that the story could have picked up a bit. I also found it difficult to differentiate the past from the present at times.
July 10, 2022
Beautifully written! I discovered this author selling her books while in Sydney, Nova Scotia. Keeper of Tides was a Jenna Bush Hager book pick. I am so glad I picked up this book. I was pleasantly surprised! Absolutely one of my favorites!
October 11, 2017
Loved the book...hated the epilogue.
April 6, 2023
What an incredibly wonderful story!
Ms. MacNeil is truly a remarkable author!
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Ms. MacNeil is truly a remarkable author!
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
September 12, 2014
Ivadoile is 92 years old and remembering her life in this book. The story goes from the present to the past back and forth. Iva was owner of an Country Inn and she had several visitors who would return and this story is about her relationship with these people. Also in the Story is Margaret, her cook, who has remained her friend and who has kept a secret from Iva. Margaret struggles with this secret even as the both of them age. Iva is slowing losing her grip on reality due to dementia, but she does have moments that are perfectly clear. Margaret recognizes these moments.
I did finish the book but found it a bit tiring to read, not really my cup of tea.
I did finish the book but found it a bit tiring to read, not really my cup of tea.
November 1, 2014
The idea of this story had potential, but the author's writing style had me so frustrated with the overuse of similes that I almost gave up. The words "like" and "as if" were present on almost every page, especailly in the first half of the book. I became distracted by subconsiously counting how many times these words were repeated per page and trying to find a page without a simile. There was even 1 paragraph with 2 "as if"s and 1 "like".
The story itself was OK. I found the book becoming too drawn out and I was anxoius for the story to end. Finished late last night in an attempt to cure insomnia.
The story itself was OK. I found the book becoming too drawn out and I was anxoius for the story to end. Finished late last night in an attempt to cure insomnia.
June 10, 2020
I enjoyed the detailed description of the Inn and the characters. It certainly is a place I would like to visit and have a cup of tea and sample Margaret's cooking. Although this book is different from her other books, Beatrice is a very descriptive and humorous writer and can bring you into a story "as if" you can see Ivadoile's photos and hear her voice tell their stories. I never noticed the reference to " like" and "as if" until it was pointed out in another review. Must be a Cape Breton thing, ah Beatrice! Best of luck with your next venture!
December 31, 2015
This is a beautifully written book. An elderly woman remembers the people she met by looking through old photographs. Her previous employee holds her hand and helps her with the encroaching dementia. The author has such beautifully descriptive phrasing and the whole book has an elegance which is hard to achieve. I bought this book and another (Where white horses Gallop) at a fair in a port building In Sydney Nova Scotia . I wish some of her other books were easier to get hold of
January 17, 2016
Where wild horses gallop will always be my favourite. Loved the stories and characters but this story was not as engaging.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews