We Run the Tides

A Novel

By: Vendela Vida

Narrated by: Marin Ireland

An achingly beautiful and wickedly funny story of female friendship, betrayal, and a mysterious disappearance, set in the changing landscape of San Francisco

Teenage Eulabee and her alluring best friend, Maria Fabiola, own the streets of Sea Cliff, their foggy, oceanside San Francisco neighborhood. They know the ins and outs of the homes and beaches, Sea Cliff’s hidden corners and eccentric characters—as well as the swanky all-girls’ school they attend. Their lives move along uneventfully, with afternoon walks by the ocean and weekend sleepovers. Then everything changes. Eulabee and Maria Fabiola have a disagreement about what they did or didn’t witness on the way to school one morning, and this creates a schism in their friendship. The rupture is followed by Maria Fabiola’s sudden disappearance—a potential kidnapping that shakes the quiet community and threatens to expose unspoken truths.

Suspenseful and poignant, We Run the Tides is Vendela Vida’s masterpiece depiction of an inimitable place on the brink of radical transformation. Pre–tech boom San Francisco finds its mirror in the changing lives of the teenage girls at the center of this story of innocence lost, the pain of too much freedom, and the struggle to find one’s authentic self. Told with a gimlet eye and great warmth, We Run the Tides is both a gripping mystery and a tribute to the wonders of youth, in all its beauty and confusion.

Gentle Suspense

Somehow the author perfectly captures the complexity and intensity of the teen experience in both the pivotal and mundane moments of life. This novel that left me on the edge of my seat. It was very different than I expected in all the right ways and I think most people reading this will identify with the main character’s yearning for belonging and the lengths which she goes to for love, affirmation, and identify. An excellently written story from start to finish!

Story and audio performance—fantastic!

I loved this book and as usual Marin Ireland’s performance could not have been better. Really well-written and engaging, but I’m sure the audio version is even better than reading it because of the excellent narration.

Not for me

If you enjoy interesting writing and don’t mind frustrating characters, you will probably like this better than I did. I rarely skip “pages” in Audible books but I did in this one. I was interested enough to want to know what happened next, but so annoyed with the characters that I skipped the rest of a chapter. Not a feel good or funny book.

Delightful

This book featuring a 13 year old protagonist growing up on the Bay Area in San Francisco is whimsical, witty, and absolutely delightful. A funny and touching take on adolescence.

Interesting plot but basically a quick Beach read

Characters and plot may be memorable. But, I wouldn't call this literary fiction by a long shot.