‘We Run the Tides’ a deep dive into girls growing up

In “We Run the Tides,” author Vendela Vida has crafted a coming-of-age tale replete with friendship, sexuality and a good dose of mystery.

Using delicate, refined analogies, a jarring plot twist and surprising character development, Vida brings to life Sea

Cliff, a wealthy enclave of mid

-1980s San Francisco where homeowners risk plunging into the Pacific Ocean for a view of the Golden Gate bridge. The author makes excellent use of San Francisco as a character, one that shapes everyone in the novel in bold, unique ways.

Eulabee and her best friend, Maria, have just begun eighth grade at the posh Spragg School for Girls. Vida’s masterful portrayal of Eulabee’s inner world, the dynamics of her friend group and the girls’ reactions to the times creates a universal connection for readers in all the right ways.

The girls and two friends start off as close as a group of four 13-yearold girls can be, understanding and anticipating each other’s every thought and move. They know each other like they know the tides, timing the waves to safely cross the spit of land that separates one beach from the other, always escaping injury or death. Their athleticism and strength draws attention as they cat-climb craggy beach walls and gracefully navigate the waters.

But as so often happens in adolescence, a rift forms in the group. The fault line opens when a man in a white car stops one day to ask the girls for directions. Eulabee finds the experience innocuous, but to Maria, it is sinister. Their contrasting recollections and reactions illustrate how one of them moves through the world with a different commitment to truth and fact. The aftermath of this incident leaves Eulabee ostracized and lonely. While it might be incorrect to say this enforced loneliness sets her free, it certainly gives room to expand her relationships to boys who pique her interest, and to mentors who swoop in at just the right moment.

Vida’s writing shines as she captures this exciting, vulnerable and sometimes worrisome time when a girl is puzzling out her position in the world, who she wants to be, and how that fits with the person others have decided she already is.

“We Run the Tides” unfolds, layer after layer, highlighting the difficulties inherent in growing up female in 1984. The narrative reveals the paralyzing muteness that can sweep over a girl when her curiosity is met with boys and men breaching polite lines of physical proximity. Though conflicted about her own desires, Eulabee isn’t a victim. She has agency over her thoughts and behavior as the novel reminds readers how girls are sometimes left to flounder amid cultural norms that sharply define expectations. Alcohol and the low light of shadowed balconies provide the landscape for her to experiment with sexuality.

Eulabee is at turns lost and found amid all of this uncertainty. She’s often wonderfully straightforward, sure of what she likes and not afraid to trust her own eyes. A colorful and caring (if somewhat preoccupied) family helps bridge the gap between Eulabee’s hobbled friendships and the life that is rising up around her.

The story plays out inside the

architecture of ’80s pop culture, with Vida hitting every right note. It’s a testament to her writing that someone who grew up across the country from Sea Cliff’s sunny beaches, attending public school where three rivers meet under slate gray skies, could be so easily drawn in by references that evoke what feels like shared life experiences.

There’s a gentleness to Vida’s writing as she treads through Eulabee’s life, its darkness and despair, exposing the wonder of infatuation: “His fingers spider-walk over to my hand and he holds it,” she writes. “I feel his heartbeat in his thumb.”

Eulabee’s core story ends in the 1980s, but the novel then jumps to 2019 to pull some threads tight. This narrative choice ties in additional bits of texture,disclosing yet another surprise, reminding readers that for some, coming-of-age extends deep into adulthood. In the short final segment of the novel, Vida illustrates how some fractured relationships heal and grow even as others are lost forever, their partners unable to navigate beyond the tides that rule frail adolescent life.