The Tide Knot. Helen Dunmore. Toronto, ON: HarperCollins, 2006. 335 pp., hardcover, $19.99. ISBN 978-00-0-200619-4. Grades 7 and up / Ages 12 and up. Review by Christina Pike. **** /4

excerpt:

The wind's really blowing up now. It pushes against us as we come round the corner of the houses and on to the steps.

"Do you think there'll be a storm?"

Conor shakes his head. "No. The barometer's fallen since this morning but it's steady now. It'll be a blow, that's all."

We jump down on to the sand. The cottages and studios are built in a line, right on the edge of the beach. The ground floor windows have big storm shutters that were hinged back when we first arrived, but now they are shut and barred. Some of the shutters are already half buried in sand that was swept up in the storms we had around the equinox, in late September, and could easily bury these houses. Imagine waking up one morning and finding the room dark because sand had blown right up to the top of your windows. Or maybe it wouldn't be sand at all, but water. You could be looking at the inside of the waves breaking on the other side of the glass. And then the glass would break under the pressure, and the sea would rush in.

"I wonder how the sea always knows just how far to come, and no farther, " I say to Conor."It's so huge and powerful, and it rolls in over so many miles. But it stops at the same point every tide."

The Tide Knot by Helen Dunmore continues the adventures of Sapphire and Connor as they struggle between their human world and the pull towards the sea. In this second novel, Sapphire and Connor are given the responsibility of saving the two worlds. The Tide Knot that holds the sea back from engulfing the earth has been loosened, and the world will soon be covered. Sapphire and Connor must travel back to Ingo and figure out how to reverse the tide and keep both world safe.

     Dunmore has continued the adventure and enabled her two main characters to mature. This novel answers the question of what really happened to their father. Although this is a fantasy, many of the struggles these two young people are facing are relevant today. Dunmore has also through her craft made the story believable.

      A must read for any age.

Highly Recommended.

Christina Pike is the Principal of St. Francis School in Harbour Grace, NL.

To comment on this title or this review, send mail to cm@umanitoba.ca.

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