Vintage 1948 The Running of the Tide by Esther Forbes Hardcover with Dust Jacket

For being nearly 80 years old, this book is in incredible shape. The dust jacket is worn but it seems to have done its duty and kept the inside nice and clean!

Reviews:

5.0 out of 5 stars

"They Don't Write 'Em Like They Used To."

"They sure don't makee 'em like they used to." That can be said for pretty much everything these days, including books - because this unforgettable story written back in the 1940s by multi-award winning Esther Forbes is one I couldn't put down. Flawed, sympathetic, and deeply human characters ...history brought sharply to life ... keen observance of life with all its good and bad ... sparkling writing, incredibly *beautiful* prose, and every emotion a reader could ever hope to feel. I loved it. Just bought my own copy after getting this one from my library, and can't wait to read it again.

5.0 out of 5 stars

Everything you want great historical fiction to be.

It's hard to imagine now that this book was considered pop fiction when it was published in 1948. You'd now have to look deep into modern literary fiction to find a work as complex, nuanced, historically exciting and completely enjoyable as "Running of the Tide." Author Esther Forbes had a fine career as a historian and novelist, winning the Pulitzer Prize in 1943 for "Paul Revere and the World He Lived In." Her young adult novel "Johnny Tremain" still tops many school reading lists.

In "Running of the Tide, " Forbes turns her considerable historical skills to Salem, Massachusetts, at the turn of the 19th century. The Inmans are one of the town's oldest seafaring families, and they're facing a rough patch due to the loss of one of their ships by the eldest son, Dash. There are four Inman boys, and all but the youngest, Peter, go to sea. Dash is the most canny captain of the family, but because he lost a ship the grandmother who runs the family company punishes him by giving the captaincy of the family's beautiful new state-of-the-art ship to someone else. But there's a last minute change of plans, and it's Dash who gives the orders to hoist sail on the Victrix's maiden voyage. He asks seventeen-year-old Peter to tie up a few loose ends for him. How Peter, who adores Dash and has a serious crush on the woman Dash loves, ties up those ends entangles the family for decades.

The wealth of understanding Forbes brings to the New England of 1800 is a treat. The Yankee character, traditions, customs, dress, the role of women as both business leaders and "pretties", captains who can sail around the world and triple their profits but can't get across town because they can't drive a horse, new trade routes opening up, the lives on shore and on ship of people who may not see each other for years are all explored with an historian's intelligence and a novelist's panache. I first read this novel in college and have come back to it every time I need a really good, involving read. The first time I read the book it was great, but each time after that my respect for Esther Forbes has grown as I realize just how elegantly "Running of the Tide" is put together. As the book sails toward the final pages, the outcome is as inexorable and as haunting as the final scene in a Greek tragedy.