The Tides Between by Elizabeth Jane Corbett

The Tides Between by Elizabeth Jane Corbett

In 1841, on the eve of her departure from London, Bridie's mother demands she forget her dead father and prepare for a sensible, adult life in Port Phillip. Desperate to save her childhood, fifteen-year-old Bridie is determined to smuggle a notebook filled with her father's fairy tales to the far side of the world.

When Rhys Bevan, a soft-voiced young storyteller and fellow traveller realises Bridie is hiding something, a magical friendship is born. But Rhys has his own secrets and the words written in Bridie's notebook carry a dark double meaning.

As they inch towards their destination, Rhys's past returns to haunt him. Bridie grapples with the implications of her dad's final message. The pair take refuge in fairy tales, little expecting the trouble it will cause.

She works as a librarian, teaches Welsh at the Melbourne Welsh Church, provides essays to the Historical Novel Review and Parallel.cymru, and blogs at elizabethjanecorbett.com when she isn't writing. 'Beyond the Blackout Curtain,' a short tale she wrote in 2009, received the Bristol Short Story Award. Another story, 'Silent Night,' was named to the Allan Marshall Short Story Prize shortlist. The Tides Between, her first historical novel, was released by Odyssey Books in 2017. It was recognized a Noteworthy Book in the 2018 Children's Book Council Awards.

Elizabeth shares a refurbished timber home with her husband in Melbourne's inner-north. She enjoys red shoes, dark chocolate, commuting by bicycle, and reading quirky, character-driven stories set in other countries.