An immersive history of a pivotal stretch of water 'Fascinating, spellbinding, erudite and great fun.' Roddy Doyle 'Remarkable. Lively . Gower writes beautifully [and] the book is profoundly popular.'Times Literary Supplement The Turning Tide is a hymn to a sea passage of world-historical importance. Combining social and cultural history, nature-writing, travelogue and politics, Jon Gower charts a sea which has carried both Vikings and saints, invasion forces and furtive gun-runners, writers, musicians and fishermen. The divided but interconnected waters of the Irish Sea - from the narrow North Channel through St George's Channel to where the Celtic sea opens out into wide Atlantic - have a turbulent history to match the violence of its storms. Jon Gower is a sympathetic and interested pilot, taking the reader to the great shipyards of Belfast and through the mass exodus of the starving during the Irish Famine in coffin boats bound for America.
He follows the migrations of working men and women looking for work in England and tells the tales of more casual travellers: sometimes seasick, often homesick too. The Irish Sea is also a place with an abundant natural history. The rarest sea bird in Europe visits its coasts in summer while the rarest goose wings in during winter. Jon Gower navigates waters teeming with life, filled with seals and salt-tanged stories and surveyed by seabirds. At a time when Irish affairs feel like they are building towards an historic crescendo, he tells the story of the people who have crossed these waters, and who live on their shores. Lyrically written and deeply considered, this is a remarkable and far-reaching book. Gold title For readers of history, travel writing and nature writing: Those who enjoy the writing of Adam Nicolson, Philip Marsden, Raynor Winn, William Thomson, Robert Macfarlane, and Patrick Barkham will love this book. Track record: This will be Jon Gower's first trade book in English for nine years, but his The Story of Wales, with an introduction from Huw Edwards, was published by Penguin to accompany a landmark BBC series to be broadcast early in 2012 and fared well.
Media savvy: Jon has a background in investigative journalism and was for some years a BBC arts and media correspondent. He also writes regularly for a range of publications and presents and makes TV and radio programmes for a range of outlets, including a series for BBC Radio 3 about Welsh mountains. He runs his own arts festival in South Wales. Indie and national press appeal across the British Isles and Ireland: Jon is also a keen photographer and has documented a lot of his experiences visually. Because of the national outlook, there are PR opportunities across England, Wales, Ireland and Scotland. There will also be serial opportunities for publications such as The Observer, Granta, and Wild magazine. News relevance: interest in Northern Ireland and the Republic is reaching a historic crescendo in the wake of Brexit and the resulting changes to cross-border trade. Prize potential: Obvious contender for literary prizes and nature and travel prizes (e.
g. Wainwright nature writing prize, Edward Stanford travel writing prize). Gower has previously won the John Morgan Travel Award and the Welsh Language Wales Book of the Year Prize in 2012. Competition: The Salt Path;The Sea Kingdoms;The Frayed Atlantic Edge;Island Dreams;Islander;The WIld Places;The Book of Tides;The Edge of the World. By;Raynor Winn;Robert Macfarlane;Adam Nicolson;David Gange;Tom Nancollas;Philip Marsden;William Thomson;Amy Jeffs;Patrick Barkham;Alistair Moffat;Neil Hegarty.