Of Women and Salt
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3.8 • 23 Ratings
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- £5.99
Publisher Description
From nineteenth-century cigar factories to present-day detention centres. From Cuba to the United States to Mexico, Gabriela Garcia’s Of Women and Salt follows Latina women of fierce pride, bound by the stories passed between them.
‘Vivid details, visceral prose and strong willful women’ – Angie Cruz, author of Dominicana
Five generations of women are linked by blood and circumstance, by the secrets they share, and by a single book passed down through a family, with an affirmation scrawled in its margins: 'We are force. We are more than we think we are.'
1866, Cuba: María Isabel is the only woman employed at a cigar factory. These are dangerous political times, and as María begins to see marriage and motherhood as her only options, the sounds of war are approaching.
1959, Cuba: Dolores watches her husband make for the mountains in answer to Fidel Castro’s call to arms. What Dolores knows, though, is that to survive, she must win her own war, and commit an act of violence that threatens to destroy her daughter Carmen’s world.
2016, Miami: Carmen, still wrestling with the trauma of displacement, is shocked when her daughter Jeanette announces her plans to travel to Cuba to see her grandmother Dolores. In the walls of her crumbling home lies a secret, one that will link Jeanette to her past, and to this fearless line of women.
Of Women and Salt is a haunting story about the choices of mothers and the tenacity of women who choose to tell their truth despite those who wish to silence them.
'A multi-generational story that, at its heart, is a tribute to imperfect mother-daughter relationships and the enduring strength of women' – Stylist
‘Extraordinary . . . stunning’ – Elizabeth Macneal, author of The Doll Factory
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Crossing five generations of familial trauma and secrecy, Gabriela Garcia’s Of Women and Salt is a dark, beautifully drawn exploration of womanhood. Miami resident Jeanette steps in to help the daughter of a neighbour held in ICE custody whilst dealing with her failing relationship with her mother, Carmen—and one reason is her desire to learn more of their family history. Her search leads her to see her grandmother in Cuba and face up to these secrets. As the story jumps through time and introduces the women of their trauma-inflicted family tree, various struggles are portrayed. The women all display spirit and wits that prove key to their survival, and Garcia reveals how this flame flickers on in each of them. Challenging topics are presented realistically, from drug abuse to squalid detention centres, while Garcia’s writing offers up rich, sweeping paragraphs that often end with a poetic flourish. History buffs will delight at chapters that highlight The Ten Years’ War and the Cuban Revolution but they remain background to the very stirring personal stories in each timeline. With this heartfelt exploration of displacement and generational trauma, Garcia examines what it really means to feel connected.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Garcia's dexterous debut chronicles the travails of a Cuban immigrant family. Carmen, a Cuban immigrant living in Miami, is worried about her daughter Jeanette's addiction to drugs and alcohol. In 2014, during a moment of sobriety, Jeanette watches as her Salvadorian neighbor, Gloria, is detained by ICE while Gloria's daughter, Ana, is away with a babysitter. After Jeanette takes in Ana, Garcia unfolds the stories of the two families in parallel narratives, shifting between Gloria awaiting deportation in a Texas detention center while Ana stays briefly with Jeanette and episodes set during the Cuban Independence Movement of the late 19th century, when Jeanette's great-great-grandmother worked in Cuba at a cigar factory, and Carmen's escape from Cuba 15 years after the revolution. Eventually, Jeanette's story reveals her addiction may be her way of coping with the trauma of having been sexually assaulted as child. Throughout, Garcia illustrates the hard choices mothers make generation after generation to protect their children: "Motherhood: question mark, a constant calculation of what-if," muses Gloria. The jumps across time and place can occasionally dampen the various threads' emotional impact, but by the end they form an impressive, tightly braided whole. This riveting account will please readers of sweeping multigenerational stories. Agents: PJ Mark and Marya Spence, Janklow & Nesbit Assoc.
