Storm Tide

Tide Trilogy #2

by Elisabeth Ogilvie

Joanna discovers that her plans for her native island's future are straining her new marriage to Nils

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction

350 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1945

About the author

Elisabeth Ogilvie’s striking evocation of the atmosphere of the Maine seacoast that is the background of The Seasons Hereafter is no accident, for she lived in just such an area for many years, and her love for its people and their way of life has influenced all her novels.
Her activities on Gay’s Island, where she spent most of the year, included writing, gardening, and “trying not to suspect that a bear is at the door, a moose lurking in among the alders, or a horned owl hovering overhead about to bear away the cat.”
She contributed a considerable amount of writing of magazine fiction and children’s books, and is the author of several novels, including There May Be Heaven, The Witch Door, Rowan Head, The Dawning of the Day, Storm Tide, and one book of nonfiction, My World Is an Island.

Reviews

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Elizabeth Ogilvie’s second novel in her Tide Trilogy finds Joanna Bennett exactly where we left her in the first book of the series. It felt like a seamless story that required no time to re-enter--no significantly elapsed time, no gaps to fill. The breezes of the island began to blow, but this time they built themselves into gales, and they were gales of a personal, internal nature.

It was satisfying to see where Joanna was off to, and while things were left in a very positive light at the end of the first novel, there was struggle ahead, which makes for a more interesting story and a more realistic one as well. After all, Shakespeare has already assured us

for aught that I could ever read,
Could ever hear by tale or history,
The course of true love never did run smooth;

And who would Elizabeth Ogilvie be to deny that?

I am thoroughly enjoying these books, and having a little crush on Nils, the handsome and strong Swede, who never has to raise his voice to be heard. I have grown fond of many of the salty characters on Bennett’s Island, Maine and love having a glimpse of what life would have been in such a remote place in the 1940s.

We leave the Bennetts and Sorensons as America enters the Second World War, with Stevie, the youngest brother, off to the Philippines. I cannot help thinking the next book will be a heartbreaker.

[Katherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful writing! Such well-drawn characters with emotional depth, superb descriptions and sense of place.

[Trish Remley · Rating 3 out of 5]

2nd in the series. Read the 1st while in Maine last year. A 3.5 for me. Enjoyed the continuing saga of Joanna Bennett.

[Jean Boobar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh, dear, I seem to be very involved with the folks on Bennett's Island. Elisabeth Ogilvie paints a realistic picture of the benefits and problems of Island living in Maine, but how a particular toughness binds them together. In this volume Joanna, the strong Bennett woman who is ever alert to how the community can solve problems and restore some of the strength it had in previous She and Nils marry, her brother Mark marries, and new generations are keeping the community growing. Joanna is a little too involved in local affairs, causing a rift in her marriage. In the meantime Bennett's is having community problems with nearby Bridport. I look forward to the third book: "The Ebbing Tide."

[Debbioconnor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book two of this series, and loved it as much as the first! Second time reading these; first was about 30 years ago. I was afraid I wouldn't "relate" this time around; sometimes when you reread a book that you once loved, you wonder why. Not with this author! She was terrific at making you see the setting and feel the emotions of the characters that she writes about.

[Sherry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bennett’s Island, Tide trilogy # 2
Strong minded, fiercely proud and independent Joanna Bennett agreed to marry Nils Sorensen and to work together to make Bennett’s Island the place of their dreams again. Joanna has her own ideas, and is used to bossing around her five brothers, but her quiet, gentle husband who has waited so long for her, wishes only to protect his wife and free her from the worry and control she’d had to wield with her beloved but untrustworthy first husband Alec Douglass. Nils knows she doesn’t love him as she did Alec, but they’ve been best friends forever and her strong minded way of taking over causes trouble in their marriage. Joanna is plagued by the unwanted attentions of Randy Fowler, son of a conniving Brigport man who wants to gain control of Bennett’s Island. Rumors about Nils start, affecting Johanna’s young daughter Ellen and Joey, the son of a new Bennett’s Island lobsterman, who bring the rumors to Johanna. Only she can set in motion what is needed to be done to save her marriage and the reputation of her husband and Bennett’s Island as the USA enters WW II after the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
Deep water lobstering off the island is a hard life for men and their women. Love of Bennett’s Island and the strength and determination of the Bennett family and those who love them wins through.

[Donna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Continuing saga of the Bennett Island clan. Joanna Bennett marries Nils Sorenson thinking they will work together to build Bennett Island back up and restore its lobstering history. But while Nils is in love with Joanna, Joanna thinks of him as a partner in her plan to revive the island. Much misunderstandings and love losing ensues, until Nils leaves her and goes to the mainland to help his uncle build a boat. Without Nils, Joanna begins to see the error of her bossy ways and opens the door for reconciliation. Soap-operaish but the descriptions of living on a Maine island in the 1940's are so beautiful...the changing seasons, the fauna and flora, the weather, and especially the capriciousness of the sea.

[Gail Harwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really good book . In fact the whole series is good. The series is written in the 40's and I think they are really nice read.

[Susan Emmet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Scarlett O'Hara and Joanna Bennett...for some reason I was scudding back and forth between them as I read Ogilvie's second in the trilogy. Pride, a deep sense of the meaning in and of place, family ties, maintaining competing relationships inwardly and outwardly, and learning to love in a deeper way that matters, perhaps too late, but hopefully not.
I was glad to see Joanna unfold as a more complete person; I didn't see her as simply bowing to male dominance, but rather learning when to speak and when not to. Her sense of desperation and coming to fullness after the breaking storm with Nils Sorenson, as well as her acceptance of the fact that she can't "be the boss" of everyone and everything just because she has such a deep love for the Island are very moving.
Ogilvie was quite the perceptive writer in the 1940s when considering women's issues, the "battle of the sexes," hardy child rearing, gender roles, healthy food, and all sorts of other things. I sure do applaud that.

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The second in the Bennett's Island series. The series takes place on an island off the coast of Maine. This book is set just before WWII, the time period in which it was written. The books are notable for their lush descriptions of the natural beauty of Maine, and for their evocation of the life of lobstering families.

[Shelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my all-time favorite series!

[Marti · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved all the books about Bennert's Island. I would so love to live there except I am allergic to shellfish

[Jackie G · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice story. Can understand the way the characters feel about their island off the coast of Maine.

[Holly Weiss · Rating 4 out of 5]

Preparation for my Maine trip. Loved this series.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

2nd book in the series. Joanna comes back to Bennett Island, marries Nils & learns to love again.