Memory changes, as the events of history never do. On a strangely warm day in January, Stella vanishes without a trace, leaving behind a young daughter and a husband bewildered by her sudden absence. The police officially label her disappearance an accident, a drowning, Stella somehow slipping beneath the thin ice of a nearby river. As her mother Sonia clings to the remnants of her family, she begins to harbour a deepening suspicion that Stella’s departure was no accident.

With the deceptive drag of an undertow, the chaotic flotsam of misplaced dreams, bruised hopes and buried loves of Sonia’s past well up to overwhelm her. Confronted with her own history of ill-considered choices and failures, Sonia is compelled to revise her preconceptions of her daughter’s life and dramatically alter the way she lives her own.

A subltle draughtsman of character, Compton’s powers of description, timing and revelation coalesce into a splendidly delicate account of one woman’s present shaped by the unanticipated legacies of her past.

“A stark and beautiful story.”
– Quill & Quire

“With a perfect sense of timing, Compton paces the story and the unveiling of memories in a way that keeps readers interested. Her prose is delightful and evocative.”
– Rover

“A brilliant debut novel, Tide Road demands the reader’s attention. What makes it so strong isn’t only the exceptional quality of the writing (virtually every page is punctuated with memorable lines), but the insight into why women stay in abusive relationships, how memory and loss of identity work against them and how desperate they become to leave.”
– Telegraph Journal

“Valerie Compton is the antidote to wilful amnesia, an astonishingly assured new voice delivering the truth with a fierce economy. Read her and remember.”
“A supple and complex meditation on how we grapple with the unknown. The sensual vitality of Valerie Compton’s prose calls to mind the writings of Lisa Moore or E. Annie Proulx.”