eric b. miller
Literary Fiction; Historical Fiction
Published by: Milbrown Press
Publication Date: May 23, 2024
Paperback ISBN: 979-8985911329
Ebook ISBN: 979-8-9859113-3-6
Paperback Trim: 6" x 9" - 588 Pages
Available: All major retailers;
Wholesale via Ingram; Overdrive.
Tidewater
written by eric b. miller
On a sluggish Chinese river in 1890, American heiress Alice Sheffield falls for Andrew Croft, the Boston soldier of fortune hired to bring her home. Alice looks past Andrew’s limitations and finds an agile mind willing to take a leap of faith.
Out of the turmoil of this relationship are born two sons who grow up knowing nothing of their parents’ former lives. Autie, a Princeton dropout, goes to war seeking adventure and fame; Rory, a morally adrift playboy, runs aground in the Mediterranean.
Caught up in their lives are Laura Eklund, the adopted sister in love with both since childhood; Lois, a bohemian Greenwich Village savant; Margaux du Pret, Belgian war bride on the brink of suicide; Procter Darlington, a young stockbroker living fast in Gay Nineties New York; and Gregory Haines, a disfigured war veteran running liquor in the early days of Prohibition.
Spanning the end of the Gilded Age to the aftermath of the Great War, Tidewater does not pass the torch from one generation to the next, but tells concurrently the stories of these individuals in a quickening pace where plans go awry and events turn on loves lost and found.
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Praise for Tidewater
STARRED REVIEW
Eric B. Miller’s novel Tidewater spins an utterly immersive family saga spanning the turn of the 20th century, between 1890-1925.
In 1890, Boston soldier-of-fortune Andrew Croft meets Alice Sheffield after her wealthy parents hire him to rescue her from the sporadic violence threatening the region in China where she works as a missionary. Despite her parents’ disapproval of his lower socioeconomic status, they marry soon after their return to the U.S. and begin wedded life in Boston. After enduring various challenges that arise over a decade, they relocate to the Maryland tidal plain where they build a dairy farm and enjoy a prosperous lifestyle.
The Crofts raise two sons and a daughter, each of whom wrestles with finding love and their life’s purpose. One son joins the Army and is sent to Europe during WWI, where he weds a Belgian refugee, while the other incurs debts and chases women in the U.S. and abroad.
Meanwhile, their sister confronts the likelihood of spinsterhood. She, like the narrative’s other strong-minded women, chafes against traditional expectations, with Alice decrying, “Too much is expected of women and not enough of men, if you ask me. And for that matter, why is any one gender in charge anyway?”
Miller skillfully weaves a narrative evocative of time and place that goes back and forth in time to reveal hidden truths and the unique perspectives of the complex characters. His dry humor punctuates the prose, with one character describing another as “[lacking] the depth to pretend he’s shallow.” Although lengthy, the novel’s brisk pace and unexpected plot twists make it a page-turner. And while it ends with a satisfying culmination to one storyline, it leaves sufficient intriguing threads to merit a future volume that Miller indicates will follow.
In all, Tidewater is a captivating historical novel that sheds light on the evolution of cultural norms from Victorian standards to Progressivist ideals while underscoring the timeless powers of love, resilience, and redemption.
RECOMMENDED by the US Review of Books
book review by Mari Carlson
"It [kindness] was like the bits of grass that grow between stones in the city... there was a little bit of it everywhere...."
Beginning with a train arrival and ending with a plane landing, the novel follows an East Coast family through the WWI era. Like the train brings mail to Andrew and Alice Croft on their farm "chateau" on Maryland's eastern shore after the war, the middle of the story brings their past into the present. How Alice and Andrew met in China, their sons Rory and Autie's military and business careers, and their adoptive daughter, Laura's, romantic pursuits lead the novel to a surprise barnstormer landing at the farm just before a new beginning: a wedding. While each character travels around the globe, Crofts' home base becomes a microcosm of the world at one dynamic point in time.
Going back and forth in time and switching between storylines, the plot dialogues with itself. Alice's adventures as a missionary and then a suffragette mirror Laura's bids for independence, working as a postmistress and winning (and losing) lovers' affections. The black-market jobs through which Andrew builds his wealth help him empathize with the covert ways Rory and Autie find to make a living (and fail). There is no central conflict, rather, a series of blows the Crofts meet with kindness.
Active prose maintains the novel's brisk pace. Like characters who are quick to take a trip or make changes after misfortune, the text is pragmatic, focusing on what people do, their mannerisms, and candid conversations. Some of the characters say little, speaking only with their eyes and their decisiveness. The absence of analysis and lyrical, descriptive passages, as well as the secrets characters keep, not only fits the period but also creates suspense and intrigue. The settings, however, capture the tone. Just as the train and plane are welcomed, so, too, are readers welcomed with the Crofts' ongoing hospitality.
FOREWORD MAGAZINE
CLARION REVIEW
A longtime couple anchors their small community through a period of substantial
change in the epic historical novel Tidewater.
Eric B. Miller’s absorbing, character-driven historical novel Tidewater traces domestic and intimate relationships in a memorable American family.
Tidewater, a Maryland estate and dairy farm located in a rural enclave, is helmed by benevolent Captain Croft and his wife Alice, whose relationship is warm and respectful. The families who work for them include a Black couple who remember the cruel previous estate owner and an impoverished mountain family stricken by the loss of their sons in World War I. Among this group, intrigue ignites when the farm’s boss notices that Captain Croft’s torso is scarred, hinting that he led a different kind of life prior to landing among the gentry. Indeed, he is revealed to have been a mercenary before meeting Alice, a Gilded Age heiress.
In this sprawling novel, extensive time is devoted to revealing people’s ties to each other. The book shifts between the perspectives of the extensive cast, which includes the Crofts’ wandering sons Autie, who is suspected of wartime cowardice, and Rory, a handsome, dangerous, and selfish ne’er-do-well who is sent overseas by his father; peeks into their childhood are used to excuse away some of their adulthood traits, if in a somewhat unconvincing manner. Knowledge of who people truly are is juxtaposed to who they present as, giving depth to the book’s interpersonal misunderstandings: Autie’s Belgian wife, for instance, keeps a traumatic secret that leads to an emotional gulf between them. Meanwhile, Laura, a Swedish American who once loved both boys, possesses often underappreciated strengths and leaves indelible impressions on people.
However, the intervals between the perspective shifts are often too lengthy, and individual stories lag. For example, allusions are made to Captain Croft and Alice’s wild meet-cute, but the story of it—which is packed with slain missionaries and a river escape in China—is quite delayed. Indeed, the book winds and wends through various people’s searches for fulfillment. Those who do mature do so against the backdrop of the fin de siècle and World War I, variously resisting and embracing change as they are pulled between expectations and opportunities.
The prose lingers over sensory details about life on the Croft farm, which is marked by subtle opulence, including a gravel driveway and a Delft-tiled fireplace. Some of its period details are superficial, as with transitions away from wearing corsets. Some, though, have weighty implications, as with concerns surrounding inheritance. Instances of gratuitous sexuality compromise the consistency of the book’s tone, though, and the book’s ending is abrupt.
Tidewater is an epic historical novel in which a brave couple guides their descendants through heartbreaks and rising fortunes.
Clarion Rating: 3 out of 5
Reviewed by Karen Rigby, July 22, 2024