Novel based on Ellen’s story: A Quiet Tide

Finally, after a delay due to COVID-19, we are delighted that the novel, A Quiet Tide, by Marianne Lee, published by New Island, is being released this week to bookshops. It has had some lovely reviews, and members of Team Ellen who have read it have enjoyed it greatly. We also think it’s great that it’s a debut novel by a young Irish woman, published by an Irish independent publisher.

Two of us at the Ellen Hutchins Festival read a draft and made comments and we made unpublished letters of Ellen’s available to Marianne. We love the way that Marianne weaves fact and fiction together skilfully. There are hundreds of Ellen’s letters, her drawings, her specimens, and writings by other botanists about her. Despite this, there are so many gaps in her story and so much that we don’t know, that it is fascinating to see this version of what might have been.

I’ve had a number of emails from Team Ellen people saying that they had felt some trepidation before reading it, in case Marianne’s Ellen was at odds with their Ellen, but they have been delighted with Marianne’s telling of Ellen’s story.

We hope that you will buy a copy and enjoy reading it too. It would be good if you could get it from your local bookshop as they need all the support they can get, or it can be ordered online at https://www.newisland.ie/fiction/a-quiet-tide

See reviews and comments on A Quiet Tide on Ellen Hutchins Festival Twitter https://twitter.com/hutchins_ellen?lang=en