* A huge Thank You as always to Anne from Random Things Tours for inviting me on another great book tour! Thank you also to HarperNorth, for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Synopsis
What the sea takes for its own can never return… Portugal, 1750s. Cecilia Lamb knew being a sea captain’s wife would mean a life of waiting and watching the horizon for her husband’s ship. But John has been gone longer than any voyage should last. Everyone else has given up hope of his return. But she knows in her bones that he is not lost. Gone, but not lost. Barely able to tear her eyes from the shimmering sea, she feels drawn to the sun-baked shoreline, and amid the bustle of the docks she feels certain that her husband will come back to her. Though along with that feeling is another sense – that something darker is coming. As she sickens, she doesn’t know what the next tide will bring – but she begins to fear as well as crave her husband’s homecoming. Soon, even on dry land, Cecilia can feel the pull of the ocean at her feet, the movement of the tides within her. Warning, seduction or promise, she cannot tell, but one thing is certain – the sea holds many secrets, and some of them are too powerful to ever be drowned.
My Review
The Water Child is set in 18th century Portugal,
where the young, newly married Cecilia Lamb now lives with her husband, John, a
ship’s captain. John is missing at sea and is presumed to be dead, however, Cecilia
won’t give up hope and she spends much of her day staring out to sea longing
for him to come home. Somehow, she knows he is still alive.
Whilst waiting for her husband she starts experiencing visions, hearing voices, and feeling unexplainable sensations. Cecilia assumes everything will get better when John gets home, but instead it becomes worse than she could ever have imaged!
The book is very atmospheric, and I could imagine the town and house really well from West’s beautifully descriptive writing. Some of the supernatural elements of the book aren’t concluded and explained fully, I liked that; it allows the reader to come to some of their own conclusions.
I really enjoyed the female friendships in The Water Child. Cecilia is alone in a foreign country, with no close friends or family around her. As the book progresses, she becomes closer to her new friends and her maid. Although these women don’t fully know what Cecilia is going through, they do offer support in different ways.
This is the sort of story that stays with you long after you finish reading, I would love a book 2! Engrossing, clever, psychological, and creepy – highly recommended!
The Water Child is available to buy now
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thanks for the blog tour support x
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