But the Scots do invade and Beatie has to push at the face of one of them who appears – courtesy of a grappling iron – at an upper window. The family live in Barrowbeck Tower – a stronghold which should keep out invaders. She is too busy being the elder daughter and watching over her family – overseeing the kitchen work riding her horse, Saint Hilda, and most importantly keeping a watchful eye out for the first sign of marauding Scots from over the border. Sixteen year old Beatie, the daughter of a North Country farmer is defying her family over the matter of her proposed marriage to her cousin Hugh. The year is 1578 and Queen Elizabeth 1 is on the throne. This book will surely become a firm favourite with Sherryl Jordan readers.Strong historical fiction and powerful romantic drama set in border country during Elizabethan times – forbidden passions and family loyalties heresy and witchcraft, but at the heart of it, the burgeoning love of a young girl. Written in a modern, accessible style, it has nevertheless plenty of period flavour, along with characters you care a great deal about.

’This is a novel about growing up and coming to terms with the adult world, about duty versus desire and the vagaries of love. ‘Page-turning excitement with a warm, strong story of a young woman’s first love at its heart The reader vividly shares the fears, frustrations and yearnings of this sixteenth-century border community, whose lives, though ordered by their traditions, shelter private secrets of crime and passion.’ This historical story from the prize-winning author is a powerful romantic drama set in border country during Elizabethan times and has received fantastic reviews. Raider’s Tide, published in February 2002, is Maggie Prince’s first novel with CollinsChildren’s Books. Her previous books include Memoirs of a Dangerous Alien which won the WHSmith Mind-Boggling Book Award in 1995, was shortlisted for both the Angus Award in Scotland and the Lancashire County Library Children’s Book of the Year Award and was chosen as one of the World Book Day Super Reads in 2001.

She now lives in Hertfordshire and is married with two children.Īs well as writing for children, Maggie has worked as a teacher, a freelance journalist and an information officer in London and Johannesburg. She was educated at London University, from where she obtained a Master’s Degree. Maggie Prince was born and grew up in Lancaster.

Raider's Tide by Maggie Prince