Patti Callahan Henry’s Between the Tides is an amazing story of self realization and of love.

Nature and books belong to the eyes that see them.

How True, right?

I loved this book, and it is one book that I don’t want to let go and give off to someone else.

The best thing I loved about this book is that each chapter starts with a famous saying such as the above and they are all so true and beautiful.

Though it was a little predictable for me, but I loved the way the story was told, revealing bit by More...

OH my - I read this book in a day or so - I loved it. Patti Callahan Henry has become one of my favorite authors and i just finished "The Girl Who Chased the Moon" as well. While I really liked "the girl who . . ", I loved, loved "Between the Tides." It's about a 30 year old girl, Cappy, who returns to her home town after 18 year to scatter (or "toss" as she keeps saying) her father's ashes in the river that runs through town. Her family had left town after the drowning death of a two-year old b More...

I thought this book started out pretty slow but definitely got better as it went along. It was a fast and easy read. There was a twist in the story that I didn't see coming, but made it saved this story as far as I am concerned.

I read some reviews of the book before I read it, which was probably a mistake. Somebody mentioned that Cappy comes off as a whiny character and I found myself remembering that comment during most of the book and thinking how true it was when I probably wouldn't have oth More...

great book, fast read. Catherine's father passes away with but one request to his daughter. That she return with his ashes to South Carolina where they once lived and scatter his ashes there. caroline has not been back to South Carolina since a tragedy 12 years before changed the corse of her life and her familys life.

This was a cute story and a quick read. Each chapter opened with a quote (mostly from books) which I loved. The main characters father was a lover of literature so I enjoyed the referance to books and reading. A passage from the book I enjoyed:

I held my hand over my chest as if I could stop what washed over me. Pure love. For Ellie. For Dad. For life. For hope. For Dad's conviction that words and literature bring us to ourselves, return us to our true self, that they connect us to one another.

I More...

There were parts that were very predictable, but overall, I easily became immersed in Cappy Leary's world where reluctance meets regret. As she tries to fulfill her passed-away father's wishes, she struggles with all the losses she's suffered in her life--of her childhood, of loved ones, of herself and of truth.... I actually teared up at the end, but not for sad reasons. I was a bit unsatisfied with loose ends that didn't completely tie up, however, life isn't neat and tidy all the time, so I t More...

Between the Tides was a book I purchased while I was waiting for the arrival of a few I ordered on Amazon. I though the plot outline looked interesting and original, unlike many books where the plot almost too closely resembles something else you’ve read. I was pleased with my pick and enjoyed the mystery that Henry establishes in the very beginning of the text. The text uses quotes at the beginning of each chapter to allude to where the story is going. Not only was this an interesting touch but More...

After reading this book for the first time, I shelved it back with the rest of my books and forgot about it for a while. It was good, yes, but forgetful. Well, maybe not too forgetful, because about a year later I started craving it for no apparent reason. It is obvious that Patti Callahan Henry has a way with words. Her quotes are profound and trill with honesty. I don't know what it was that called me back to this book; probably God, but the second helping was much more gratifying. So much so, More...

This book was so engrossing it kept me home, on the last Friday night of my vacation, instead of going to a birthday party at Doug Fir... one of my favorite watering holes, SE Portland style.

This was a great book and it did surprise me. I had to keep reading to the last page to actually see what would happen to the characters. The author really keeps you hanging!

A beautifully written story that takes place in the low-country of South Carolina, Between the Tides tells about thirty-year-old Catherine, and how the trauma that took place when she was twelve, totally altered her life. It takes her father's death, and following his last wishes, to get her to return to the site of her childhood home, and discover the person she was really meant to be. With the help of her deceased father's wishes, and her father's teaching assistant, she sheds her brittle faca More...

Pretty good book about a woman who discovers her father's secret past in an attempt to carry out his wishes to spread his ashes in a place that her family had long ago left "for good" after a terrible tragedy. The real story is the peeling of the woman's defenses and walls erected long-ago out of self-preservation. Walls, of course, that have kept her fairly unlucky in love and guilt-ridden over events of her childhood. With the help of her father's young (and handsome) protege, she is able to u More...

picked this book up for $3 at a bookstore, not expecting much-it turned out to be a good read. Catherine's family leaves their beloved home near the river after a tragic accident in which she feels responsible. All her adult life she keeps the feelings deep inside and tries to forget until her father passes away and she must go back to scatter his ashes in the river. All that she has been afraid of and that has kept her from being true to herself is brought to light, painfully, but ultimately w More...

Between the Tides was a book I purchased while I was waiting for the arrival of a few I ordered on Amazon. I though the plot outline looked interesting and original, unlike many books where the plot almost too closely resembles something else you’ve read. I was pleased with my pick and enjoyed the mystery that Henry establishes in the very beginning of the text. The text uses quotes at the beginning of each chapter to allude to where the story is going. Not only was this an interesting touch but More...

This book was a suprise for me, almost lyrical in its storytelling, I fell in love with the characters. The story opens with a daughter who has lost her dad, the last remaining parent, and the secrets she finds when fulfilling his last wish. You run the gamut in the story from life and death, love and loss, despair and hope.
Catherine is identifiable in so many ways, locked into childhood by a trauma that affected many, though she believes she moved past it.

There were so many great quotes in the More...

Before summer ends, grab this book for a good beach read! It was recommended by a friend who knows the author. I liked the story because the conflict for the main character, Caroline/Cappy, was revealed in the first chapter and the rest of the story tracked her voluntary and involuntary efforts to resolve her emotional scars caused by the conflict so that she can begin to lead an emotionally fulfilling life. Definitely "chick lit" or for guys who want to get in touch with their feminine side :-) More...

I read this book in one sitting, something I very rarely do if ever. I was thoroughly captivated by Cappy, the main character and her struggle to deal with a tragedy in her young life 18 years later. It is one of those books where you get so entwined with the characters that you hate for it to end and the whole story continues to roll around in your brain. I think it will take some time to really discover what this book has meant to me. One of the best fiction I've read in a long time.

This is really close to a 4. I love her writing style and this one was so much better than the last one I read as far as how I felt about the characters and plot. The characters were imperfect and complex but still relatable. My fave. quote in the book, "during the weekend, I'd adored the old feeling of losing myself in a story, then returning to myself slightly altered." Any book that celebrates reading and other literature as this novel does is a winner for me.

Seabro, South Carolina is Catherine's little home. Though she moved away with her father, she misses the small town. But one thing keeps her away. Sam's death. Her fault. For not watching him. But when Forrest, a young colleage of Catherine's father pushes her to go back to Seabro to scatter her dad's ashes, Catherine goes. And forgives herself, finds herself, and relives her old life. Pretty way of words, was a good book. Boring in the beginning though...

My mom handed off this book on her visit to San Francisco last spring and it's perfect plane/beach/lazy sunday reading. Finished it remarkably fast and though it was pretty cheesy, I really did enjoy the writing and the imagery. I also did think it had a great message, wasn't overly romantic, and involved the water--all pluses in my book. Glad I read it.

Someone gave me this book (who hadn't read it) so I opened it without expectation. Most of it is set in the Lowcountry of South Carolina, which I love, and is fabulous for the senses. It's not a classic but good enough. At least she does take the emotional journey and comes out whole in the end--some books advertise that but fail to deliver.

I loved this book & it makes me want to go sit on the end of a pier & just be. It is a book about forgiving yourself, and letting go of grief and learning what it is to love and to be loved. It is about living & loving the things that are important in your life. It is about learning how to love yourself. It makes me want to slow down and enjoy the day.

I know I was pretty dismissive of a previous novel by this author I read several weeks ago, but that didn't stop me from searching for others at my local library. This novel, written earlier and not published, was far better than others I have read by Henry. The characters and plot were more complex and less predictable.

Catherine returns to her childhood home to spread her father's ashes, where she confronts her past and discovers secrets. Catherine was not a likeable or sympathetic character. I want to tell her to get over it already. I kept reading it because I had to know the secret of why her father had kept returning.

Completely predictable. Besides the story being predictable, even the words she used in the sentences were predictable. Great read if you're standing in line at CVS. or if you want to know the end of the story 20 pages into it, which I suppose is why it would be a great read for the CVS line.
All that being said... it's not awful. It's just TV in book form.

Well written, not surprising since the manuscript was revisited more than once before being published. In this case it benefited the novel. The story is about life being a story and I really escaped into this one. I know a book will be good if I can feel with its characters, if it allows me to absorb their emotions and situations, and this book did just that; I was pissed off, I was depressed - it was wonderful. There is a strong theme of family, of that which you are born into, and the one you More...

A book set in the lowcountry of South Carolina. Kindof reminds me of some of Nicholas Sparks books. It's about a childhood changed by a tragedy and then working through all it when an adult. Love, forgiveness, discovery of one's self... it's thread throughout the book.

An easy read back to all that we are still influenced by from our childhood. Particularly interesting to sense the conflict of love/resentment toward a mother trying to do her best. Brought back lots of memories, painful and joyful, of growing up in the South.

So I really loved this book. The main character goes through a very interesting transformation. I am a sucker for books set in the Carolinas. There are beautiful quotes at the beginning of each chapter. Amy K.....I think you would like this one.

This book strikes me as an example of pure, American literature. The subject is sad but Patti writes the story so beautifully and lyrically that I felt as if I were sitting alone with her as she recalled past, personal experiences.