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Kirkus Reviews May 1, 2024, review of Harlow, Clare: TIDEMAGIC.
Funnily enough, I never thought about being a writer when I was younger. At school, I was often in trouble for daydreaming, and you could say that now I daydream professionally.
Along the way, I’ve been an actor and an English tutor, as well as working in retail and hospitality. And I’ve lived in all sorts of places, many of which have seeped into the misty riverbanks, sentient buildings, spooky forests and magical cities in my books.
As well as writing stories, I love talking about them, especially with my readers.
You can find details of my upcoming events, as well as any exciting book news I have to share, here.
If you would like me to visit your school or library, you’ll find more information here.
For all other enquiries, please get in touch.
Q&A with Clare Harlow, author of TIDEMAGIC: The Many Faces Of Ista Flit
Delighted to share a Q&A by MBC’s Sarah Broadley and fantastic children’s author Clare Harlow! Read on to discover what went on behind the scenes with her debut Tidemagic: The Many Faces of Ista Flit and how the book came to be!
Shelwich seems like a nice quiet seaside town until we delve into Nimble Lane and the predicaments Ista faces. Can you share with us the world you’ve created and how you navigated the landscape the characters would take?
The idea for a world where magic rises and falls with the tide came to me one misty winter afternoon when I was walking by the river. There was a moment when the water splashed up onto the footpath in front of me, and I just thought What if…? The whole story flowed (sorry, forgive the pun) from there, and lots of local landmarks made their way into it, although all with added layers of strangeness or danger.
The Grilks in your story are fantastically elusive and creepy, how did you come up with them as (one) of the antagonists in Tidemagic?
I’d say elusive and creepy are the key words for the grilks. They only appear when it’s dark and misty and the Tide is high. At the start of the story, no one has seen them clearly and lived to tell the tale. For me, that’s a crucial part of what makes the grilks scary. It creates gaps that have to be filled by the reader’s imagination.
Ista certainly has a lot on her plate and her friends come into her life in many ways, was it always the intention for her to have adversaries in her quest?
Oh yes, definitely. I wanted Ista to have lots of adversaries and lots of allies. She starts the story pretty much alone (with the crucial exception of Giddon and Padley) and she has to learn who she can trust and who she can’t. By the end of book one, she’s figured out who’s on her side and who isn’t, although she hasn’t found everything she was looking for, she’s part of a team and a community – which, of course, raises the stakes for book 2.
The Skylark Fantastic Fiction competition catapulted your story into the hands of publishers and agents in the literary world, can you tell us how it all worked out for you?
The competition gave me a fresh chance to impress Amber Caravéo at Skylark, who had given me encouraging rejections for previous stories. I was over the moon when she offered me representation. I was more of a ‘pantser’ than a plotter back then, so the first draft of Tidemagic had some pesky plot-holes, which Amber patiently helped me fix. Then we sent out the manuscript, and I feel like it’s been a dream since then. I can’t imagine a better home for Ista than with Puffin in the UK and Knopf in North America.
Seeing your characters come to life on the page in the incredible illustrations by Karl James Mountford must have been quite a moment for you. How much input did you have? Can you explain the process of the collaboration between author and illustrator for this project?
Karl is one of my favourite illustrators, so I couldn’t believe my luck when my editor asked if I thought he’d be a good fit for Tidemagic. The real collaboration has been between Karl and designers Jan Bielecki and Arabella Jones. They asked me for notes on characters, locations and key moments in the story, then went away and made magic. They even turned my terrible sketch of a map into a thing of beauty.
Is there an Ista book 2 heading to our shores? What’s next for Clare Harlow?
There is absolutely an Ista book 2! I can’t say anything about it, except that it’s already written and will hit the shelves next May. In the meantime, I’m about to finish my MA in Writing for Young People, and then I’d better get cracking with book 3. I’ve also got some fun Tidemagic events coming up, some already announced, some still top secret – search for @clareharlowthewriter on Instagram if you’d like more info about those.
Clare Harlow: 'Look out for other writers who aren’t afraid to gently tell you how to make your work stronger'
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Headshot of Clare Harlow, author of Tidemagic (photo credit: Fraser Burrows Photography)
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BY Emily Powter-Robinson
14th May 2024
Clare Harlow worked on her debut middle grade book Tidemagic (out now with Puffin Books) on our three-month Writing YA & Children’s Fiction course in 2016. We spoke about her time studying with us, her advice for aspiring writers applying for courses, and her reaction to finding out that Tidemagic is Blackwells Children's Book of the Month for May!
You studied on our three-month Writing YA & Children’s Fiction course in 2016. How did your time studying with us impact your writing journey?
The YA & Children’s Fiction course gave me drive and focus. I went into it having been writing for a only few months and feeling so uncertain about… well, everything, really. Studying online was perfect. I was on tour and could still come to class. Thanks to Catherine Johnson and my course-mates, I came away confident and bursting with ideas, although it took me a while to hone them. One particular piece of advice from Catherine has really stuck with me. She told me to always take the more interesting fork in the path. It sounds so obvious, but I was getting tangled up in the idea that my protagonist simply wouldn’t take action at certain moments in the story. To massively paraphrase what Catherine said, it’s the writer’s job to move the circumstances around the character to force them to act. I’ve taken that into everything I’ve written since, including Tidemagic.
Many of our students find lifelong writing friends on our courses. Are you still in touch with anyone you met during the courses?
Well, this is the other thing. I had no idea that I’d make such good friends. Truly, I don’t know where I’d be without Gill Perdue and Gianna Pollero. We write in different genres (Gill writes the Shaw & Darmody crime series with Penguin Ireland and Gianna’s Monster Donuts trilogy is published by Piccadilly), but they are always my first critique partners and sounding boards. We’re in touch pretty constantly and, although geography means we only meet in-person once or twice a year, they both made it to my launch party for Tidemagic this month, as did Susie Wolfe, who writes fantastic dystopian YA. A lot of our group have gone on to be published, including Penny Chrimes, Joanne O’Connell, and my fellow 2024 debut Neil Taylor, whose twisty YA thriller Anticipation comes out with Neem Tree Press in August.
Your debut middle grade book Tidemagic is out now with Puffin. It’s a magical adventure story set in the fictional world of Shelwich, with themes of friendship and mystery. Can you tell us a bit more about the book and the inspiration behind it?
Tidemagic is set in Shelwich, where magic ebbs and flows with the tide, giving people temporary magical powers every time the river rises. When the magic is high, my protagonist, Ista, has the ability to transform to look like anyone she’s ever laid eyes on. Meanwhile, people are disappearing – the rumour is that they are being snatched by monsters called grilks. With Ista’s father among the missing, she teams up with unexpected allies Nat and Ruby. The three of them venture into the hidden caverns beneath Shelwich to unravel the mystery, but the secrets they find there are far stranger than they could possibly have bargained for.
So much of the world-building has been influenced by the part of south-east London where I live. The idea for the magic system crept up on me when I was walking by the river. The tide was high, and the water splashed onto the footpath. It was a misty winter afternoon and dusk was creeping in. In that moment, it was easy to imagine magic in the air and monsters in the shadows. Meanwhile, lots of local landmarks have crept into the story in one form or another. Some are obvious, like Greenwich observatory being the inspiration for the Moon Tower, others less so. The door that inspired the door to the Shrieking Eel Inn, for example, is in the park. I didn’t know what was behind that door when I wrote the story (and I won’t say here, for fear of giving away spoilers), but when I found out, I couldn’t believe how perfect it was.
In a previous life, you were an actress, touring with theatres all over the UK and Ireland. You’ve now turned your love of storytelling from stage to page! How does your background in theatre impact your approach to writing fiction? Does it help you craft dialogue – and are there any other areas where there is helpful crossover?
One thing my acting experience definitely gives me is the ability to immerse myself in a scene and imagine it taking place around me. Writing Tidemagic, I often felt as if I was standing at Ista’s shoulder, experiencing the twists and turns alongside her. The downside of that, of course, is that it’s sometimes hard to step back and see the big picture. As a writer, you sort of have to be the scriptwriter, director and actor at the same time. Fortunately, I have the most amazing team around me – my agent Amber Caravéo, my book one editors Natalie Doherty at Puffin and Nancy Siscoe at Knopf, and Ben Horslen at Puffin, who has stepped in alongside Nancy for book two. They’ve done a phenomenal job of keeping me on track.
Do you have any tips for the aspiring authors reading this who are thinking of applying to a writing course?
It can be a big financial outlay, so only do it when you can make time to get the most out of the course. Go in with an open mind, and take notes, even about the feedback that doesn’t chime with you in the moment. It may well make more sense in the long run. Lastly, look out for other writers who ‘get’ what you’re trying to do but also aren’t afraid to gently tell you how to make the work stronger – they’re your future critique partners.
Tidemagic is Blackwells Children's Book of the Month for May! How did you react when you found out the news?
I was speechless, actually. It’s such wonderful news, and I can’t thank Blackwell’s enough for their support of Tidemagic. I had a lovely video-call where I got to meet some of the booksellers, and I was blown away by their enthusiasm. I’m so looking forward to meeting them in person.
Finally, what’s next for your writing journey?
This summer, I’m touring all over the place, visiting bookshops, schools and festivals to chat all things Tidemagic and help young writers craft stories of their own. At some stops, a special guest will be joining me – a life-sized model of one of the grilks, the monsters in Tidemagic. It has been created by designer Hannah Postlethwaite and prop-maker Caroline Perry, and it is absolutely incredible. Meanwhile, Tidemagic Book Two is just about ready to go to copy edit, and I’m also coming to the end of my MA in Writing for Young People at Bath Spa University. For that, I’m working on a YA horror manuscript, which I’m hoping to finish drafting by the autumn. And then it’s time to crack on with Book Three. Wish me luck!
Harlow, Clare TIDEMAGIC Knopf (Children's None) $17.99 5, 14 ISBN: 9780593806746
A young face-changer searches for her father in a town where magic's power rises and falls like the daily tides.
Searching for her missing parent, Ista has come to Shelwich, where nearly everyone has a Tide-blessing (the name for "any gift that came in with the Tide"), and certain streets can play hard to find. In return for room and board, she uses her ability to assume people's appearances to steal odd items for a reclusive collector. She falls in with Ruby Mallard, an acrobat whose gift is to always land on her feet, and budding journalist Nat Shah, a rare "no-blessing boy," to investigate a rash of seemingly random disappearances (including that of Ravi, Nat's little brother). Ista discovers not only a network of tunnels beneath the streets but also a nefarious scheme to steal an upcoming local election. As a magical, atmospheric urban setting, Shelwich has some appealing quirks, and Harlow populates it with a diverse supporting cast that, along with a trio of doughty and determined young leads, includes both an affectionate same-sex couple and a friendly, if terrifying, giant eel. The author also tucks in secret messages, a magical key, and other clear signs that her intrepid questers' exploits are far from fully told. Mountford's lively ink-and-wash-style illustrations adorn the book, adding to the charm. Ista reads white; Ruby appears to be Black, and Nat is cued South Asian.
Brisk action, fiendish political chicanery, and magic with an intriguing twist. (map) (Fantasy. 8-12)
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"Harlow, Clare: TIDEMAGIC." Kirkus Reviews, 1 May 2024. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A791877067/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=d32c38a9. Accessed 2 Nov. 2025.