The Song of the Tides

In the tradition of du Maurier and Bront , prolific Irish author Ryan (The Promise, Mask of the Night) offers an eerie tale of love, madness and ancient curses set in modern Ireland. Built in 1850, Dunbeg, the O'Malley family ""castle,"" has a tarnished history but has been a yearly summer retreat for Aine, her four brothers and their parents. By the summer of 1986, 10-year-old Aine has become an imaginative, solitary child, often frightened by dreams and sometimes neglected by her emotionally abused mother and her autocratic father. When her father's unstable sister, Aunt Isabelle, and her son, Rupert, visit from Virginia, Aine and 14-year-old Rupert bond immediately. After Aine is threatened by Aeneas Shaw, a local vagrant who claims Aine's great-great-grandmother wrongly evicted his family from their land, Rupert protects her and wins her love. In the years that follow, Aine grows to be more cognizant of her mother's discontent as a housewife, Aunt Isabelle's inherited mental illness, her own lingering, irrational fears and her undeniable love for her cousin. Psychology and history, spirits and women's lib all factor into the love story. A captivating raconteur, Ryan invests the misty, mysterious castle Dunbeg and its seaside setting with palpable atmosphere. Her books are bestsellers abroad; now she stands to expand the stateside audience that enjoyed The Promise. (Nov.)