The Turn of the Tide by Margaret Henderson Smith. Book Review

“The Turn of the Tide” is Margaret Henderson Smith’s latest episode in the ongoing saga of the accident prone Harriet Glover.

   Harriet is a teacher and is still besotted with, or should I say deeply in love with, her boss, one Joris Sanderson, though it seems she often wishes she felt different about that.

   Joris, or Mr Sanderson, as Harriet still insists on calling him, has apparently everything a man could desire. He’s a doctor, headmaster, Knight of the realm with friends in high places, and I mean stratospheric, as in Prime Ministers and the like, and you don’t get much higher than that.

   And now Harriet is pregnant and Joris, sorry Mr Sanderson, is the father, though no one else knows that, and in the meantime he has a bevy of beauties hanging around, former girlfriends and lovers, and even mothers of his children, and others eyeing up Joris’s fabulous house and extravagant lifestyle and wishing and hoping and thinking and scheming that one day Joris could be theirs and theirs alone. Not that Harriet is without admirers too, though she’s inclined to stand back and keep her counsel and play her cards very close to her chest.

   There’s something of the Real Housewives of Cheshire going on here, every time I see that programme I think of a rampaging Harriet, who despite being pregnant still gets herself into all kinds of scrapes, from mugging cab drivers and stealing his cab, to crossing swords with crazy drug soaked rappers.

   There are a lot of characters here too, as you might expect, seeing as this is the fifth book in the series, so you may wish to go back and start at the beginning, though you don’t need to do that as “The Turn of the Tide” stands alone as a separate novel, and there’s a very useful guide to all the players at the beginning of the book to keep you onside at all times.

   I particularly liked the ending, though I will say no more on that here, and it had me wondering as to whether “The Turn of the Tide” is indeed the end of the road for Harriet Glover and her consonant dropping chums, but then again, somehow I doubt that, for Harriet has an exciting future before her, and I suspect there’s still much intrigue to be told and stories to unfold.