Tideswell

by Phill Featherstone

In the seaside village of Tideswell, things are not what they seem. Beneath its peaceful exterior, sinister forces lurk.
Holly Mason, a gifted amateur artist, vanished from Tideswell a year ago. Now her older sister, Alice, returns to settle her affairs. It should be straightforward, but it's not. Conflicting accounts of Holly’s behaviour twist through the village, and paintings found in her studio reveal dark visions of witch trials and of a monstrous figure that rises from the sea.
As Alice digs deeper, she uncovers disturbing truths, but the Tideswell community is turning against her. Violence erupts, and Alice is almost drowned.
She returns home to be cared for by Simon, her seemingly devoted husband, but she finds that even there appearances are deceiving.
Torn between truth and illusion, family secrets and manipulation, Alice must summon the courage to reclaim her life before she, too, is drowned by Tideswell’s shadows.

"Dark, claustrophobic, and spooky". The Wishing Shelf

"Truly haunting, an atmospheric tale that blends domestic drama with creeping unease. Highly recommended." The International Review of Books

262 pages, Paperback

Published October 15, 2025

About the author

Phill Featherstone read English Literature at Cambridge University and followed this with an MA at Leicester University. He taught older teenagers in schools in England before moving into advisory work. After this he and his wife started an educational publishing business, which they ran until it was acquired by Bloomsbury Publishing. Phill alternates between writing, drinking coffee, and playing the saxophone (badly) - not always in that order. He lives in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England with Sally, his wife and partner of more years than they can count.

Phill is the award-winning author of 11 novels and a book of short stories.

'Paradise Girl', Book 1 of Phill's REBOOT trilogy, is set in the northern hills where, amidst the majestic beauty of the rolling moors, a world pandemic consigns a lone young woman to a bleak future. In Book 2, 'Aftershocks', her twin brother sets out to discover the truth behind the infection. REBOOT concludes with 'Jericho Rose'. By now the pandemic is over, and it's time to rebuild. However, there are a selfish few who seek to exploit the situation for their own ends and this risks losing the little that's left.

Phill's fourth novel, 'The God Jar', is a tale of magic and mystery which straddles 16th century Europe and 20th century England. John Dee, Elizabethan sorcerer and mystic, finds a jar which he discovers has supernatural powers. 400 years later it resurfaces when a pair of honeymooners come across it on a diving trip. But have they found the jar or has it found them?

In 'What Dreams We Had!' a group of young people are offered a fantastic holiday in Italy, but once there they are forced to confront uncomfortable issues about who they are and what's important to them, and to wonder whether anything they thought was true actually is.

'I Know What You're Thinking' is a story about two teenagers who share a remarkable ability: each can read the mind of the other. When one of them is kidnapped their friend must use this gift to find them, but nothing is easy in this taut thriller.

The Leopard's Bane series consists of 3 titles – The Poisoner's Garden, The Rhymer's Daughter, and A Hanging Moon. It's the tale of a family feud and a struggle between two brothers, one bent on selfish advancement and the other seeking to correct a corrupt society. Oh, and there's a poor girl from the slums who possesses the knack of turning everything upside down.

'Butterflies' tells of a girl from a sheltered background who finds herself in the world of the titled and wealthy. She is forced to confront her situation, which compels her to leaves this existence and find another.

'Tideswell', the title of Phill's eleventh novel, is the name of a decaying village on the east coast of England. The heroine goes there to clear out a cottage which has been used by her vanished sister. She unearths some disturbing questions about herself, her family, and the past which force her to rebuild her life.

Phill's novels have won Chill With a Book Reader Awards and Indie BRAG Gold Medallions. They have been finalists in the Page Turner and Wishing Shelf Awards.

Phill has also written a book of short stories, 'Undiscovered Countries' which is free to subscribers to his email newsletter. Details are on his website.

Phill is a member of The Society of Authors, The Alliance of Independent Authors, Promoting Yorkshire Authors, Sheffield Authors, and The British Library.

Reviews

[Bookworm86 · Rating 5 out of 5]

BLOG TOUR REVIEW

Review for 'Tideswell' by Phill Featherstone.

CLEAR YOUR SCHEDULES AND GRAB THIS SPOOKY AND HAUNTING PAGE TURNER TODAY!! I CAN GUARANTEE THAT YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT!!

This may be the first book I have read by this absolutely incredible author but it most definitely will not be my last!! I cannot WAIT to get stuck into more books by Phill especially if this one is anything to go by!!!

OMG!!! I ABSOLUTELY LOVE, LOVE, LOVED THIS BOOK, AN ABSOLUTELY AMAZING, GOTHIC AND PAGE TURNING MUST READ!!!

This book is extremely well written with vivid and evocative descriptions that really put you in the storyline, feeling the hair on your arms raise and putting you on the edge of your seat!!!

The first thing I have got to say is an absolutely HUGE CONGRATULATIONS to the amazing author Phill Featherstone on creating such a unique and haunting masterpiece! Phil's evocative and vivid descriptions ensure the storyline, characters and tension came to life in front of my eyes!! I absolutely loved this addictive, creepy, claustrophobic, paranormal, tension and suspense packed page turner!!! It had the perfect amount of dread, tension, superstitions, twists, darkness, mystery, suspense and everything else that you could ask for!! I have absolutely no idea how this is the first time I have read one of this incredible author's books but I am so glad I have rectified that problem and I cannot wait to get hooked into more books by Phill. It is an extremely fast paced and gripping read and I devoured it in one sitting in the space of a few hours!!! I genuinely could not put this book down and was walking around with it glued to my hands at any chance I got, I just HAD to know what was going to happen next. Phill completely captivated my attention and I was completely invested in the storyline and Alice from the moment I turned the cover to the very end! This really is the perfect book to read for any fan of suspense, supernatural, paranormal, haunting, gothic and thriller reads!!! To find out more grab your copy of this fantastic page turning psychological thriller today and I guarantee you will not regret it!! With a gripping storyline ram packed with mystery, isolation, loneliness, witches, suspense, drama, danger, paranormal, legends, claustrophobia, deception, lies, shocks and everything plus more that you could ask for in a novel what are you waiting for? I absolutely love how unique this storyline is having never come across anything like it before!! The fact that the location of the book is an isolated, rundown and sinister seaside village is just perfect, it really brings the hair on your arms up. I am a HUGE lover of the paranormal, gothic stories, horrors, any haunting stories and that was part of the reason I chose this book to read, along with its stunning cover and this book does not disappoint!!I most certainly will be recommending it! It is such a fascinating and tension packed read and I was completely absorbed throughout. Phill's absolutely terrific and vivid writing skills and descriptions ensure the reader really feels and sees everything that Alice is seeing, doing and feeling through the pages. This truly is an absolutely addictive, action packed page turner with a unique storyline that will grip you from the moment you open the pages until the very end, and longer!! A huge well done to Phill yet again on the absolute uniqueness of this book!! With so many crime, psychological, gothic, suspense and thriller books out there it is difficult to discover one with a completely different storyline. I have read hundreds and hundreds of books so it is getting harder and harder to find books with a truly unique storyline but Phill has smashed it out of the ballpark. I cannot wait to get hooked into more of his books!!

GET COSY, CLEAR YOUR SCHEDULES AND GET READY TO GET HOOKED ON THIS EPIC, HAUTING AND GOTHIC PAGE TURNER!

I loved getting to meet all the different characters even though several I did not actually like. It is difficult for me to enjoy a book when I dislike several of the character's but, yet again, I had no problem with this brilliant read!! Although there were several I disliked there were also many that I really enjoyed meeting and getting to know such as our main protagonist Alice who my heart went out to. I also enjoyed meeting Amir, Tabitha and a handful of the other villagers although many were strange this just added to the eeriness of the story. The setting and creepy atmosphere is perfect for the storyline and the fantastic emotive and evocative writing skills really suck the reader into the story ensuring they can see the suspense and tension all around them and feel the chill up their spine. You have truly got to grab a copy of this fantastic gothic page turner today!!! Along with a creepy, masterful and haunting atmosphere and storyline Phill has also created an absolutely fantastic group of characters each with their own unique personalities. They were all very strong characters, realistic and sturdy with their own unique personalities, flaws, quirks, strengths and weaknesses. There is a wide range of characters and we get to meet loads of different characters !! I remarkably became very quickly attached and invested in Alice and loved seeing the dynamics and interactions between her and the other characters that she met. Well done Phill on creating such a memorable, unique, diverse and multi layered group of characters that will stay with me for a long time!! This is one of those books that I picked up and within a quarter of the book I realised I was wasting time lying to myself saying just one more chapter and I will do X, Y or Z as there was no way I could put it down!! Each and every chapter ended in a way that I had to know what was going to happen next so I ended up walking around with my kindle glued to my hands and unable to take my eyes of the screen until I had completely devoured the book within a few short hours. I honestly loved absolutely everything about it from the characters to the settings and it was just one heck of an amazing read!!! If you love thrillers, crime, mystery, drama, psychological thrillers, gothic reads, paranormal, witchcraft, suspense, well do you know what if you love reading then grab a copy of this book today and you will not regret it!!! This book will suck you in and keep you gripped in the pages until your thrown out at the end with a racing heart!! A truly unforgettable one in a million page turner!!!!

Clear your schedules before turning a single page as this book is truly unputdownable!!!

Well done Phill on an absolutely addictive, haunting, gothic and explosive page turner! This is why I would like to welcome you to my favourite author list and I cannot wait to read more of your books!! If they are just half as good as this one they are guaranteed to be epic!

Overall an absolutely addictive, haunting, gothic, action packed, suspense filled page turner that will keep you turning the pages until you've devoured the book in hours!!

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[Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

Welcome to Tideswell, where nothing is quite as it seems!

When Alice heads to this quiet, seaside village, she plans to quickly sort the house where her sister used to live, before she mysteriously disappeared just over a year ago. What should be a relatively easy job, soon takes a more sinister turn as Alice gets to know some of the locals. What really happened to Holly and is Alice now in danger?

This one really did keep me hooked, and heading towards the end, really made me question everything I thought I knew up to that point (you will know what I mean when you read it!)
I loved the descriptions, I felt I was in this village, looking out over all the scenery described.

There’s so many themes running through this book like the psychological element, but also the paranormal makes an appearance! The pacing is great, always leaving you questioning and wanting more.

All in all I really enjoyed this, you will find it hard to put down.

[Charlotte Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great thriller to read. I read this book in one sitting because I couldn’t put it down. I loved the twist at the ends I honestly didn’t know what was real and what wasn’t!!

I loved the setting, a seaside town with its own secrets, as the book went on I was just feeling more and more dread at who our main character was going to meet, the village people big strange in their own way.

The main character Alice was really well written, I felt everything she was feeling, panic, dread, claustrophobic. Really well written and rounded character. All the supporting characters were great and were written to serve a purpose.

Would I recommend this book yes if you love the twist and turns of a thriller, you’ll love this book!!