An immersive history of a pivotal stretch of water 'Fascinating, spellbinding, erudite and great fun.' Roddy Doyle The Turning Tide is a hymn to a sea passage of world-historical importance. Combining social and cultural history, nature-writing, travelogue and politics, Jon Gower charts a sea which has carried both Vikings and saints, invasion forces and furtive gun-runners, writers, musicians and fishermen. The divided but interconnected waters of the Irish Sea - from the narrow North Channel through St George's Channel to where the Celtic sea opens out into wide Atlantic - have a turbulent history to match the violence of its storms.