In Winter Tide, Ruthanna Emrys takes the Cthulhu Mythos and deconstructs it with the concept: “Carting people off to prison camps, even if they’re fish people is kind of racist actually!” (The Shadow over Innsmouth is about a guy who starts an investigation concerning the town of Innsmouth and discovers that the townsfolk are not fully human. This leads to government raids and the incarceration of most of the town. In Winter Tide Deep Ones are not nonhuman but rather an amphibious species of human. Half of their very long lives are spent on land until they transition to fully aquatic.)
Our Protagonist Aphra Marsh is a survivor of the prison camp, which eventually became a Japanese internment camp during the Second World War. (She and her brother were just about the only survivors when the Japanese American families were brought in. They were more or less adopted by one of the families.) She works in an esoteric/antiquities bookstore and is approached by an FBI agent named Ron Spector who needs her help with an investigation. (Help that only she can provide because of a potential Russian spy who may or may not be attempting to study the magic/technology of the Deep Ones at Miskatonic University, which has her people’s records and grimoires.)
Aphra agrees to help in exchange for a chance to recover her people’s documents. (She is also motivated by the fact that Deep One esoteric knowledge is generally Things Not Meant to Be Played With Unless You Know What You’re Doing And You Don’t Champ.) Things become complicated with a conflicting team of agents and a variety of other near disasters.
I ended up really enjoying this book as Ruthanna Emrys recreates authentic historical attitudes in regard to race, religion, and culture. (In a heartbreaking but not to overwhelming manner. The repeated themes of privilege, bigotry, and racism and how each character responds to them are very engaging and compassionate.) Aphra’s characterization is a sympathetic and strong character who has been through some hellish experiences and managed to survive with her empathy and compassion intact. The other characters were complex and engaging, and I enjoyed the “Found Family” aspects of the plot line.
To reiterate: This book was great and I read it multiple times.
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