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Of Women and Salt cover art

Of Women and Salt

By: Gabriela Garcia
Narrated by: Frankie Corzo,Gabriela Garcia
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Summary

The New York Times best seller

Five generations of women, 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, where each day the workers find strength in daily readings of Victor Hugo. But 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. 

From 19th-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. It is a haunting meditation on the choices of mothers and the tenacity of women who choose to tell their truth despite those who wish to silence them. For fans of American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins and Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo, this audio edition includes a bonus conversation between Gabriela Garcia and Roxane Gay 

©2021 Gabriela Garcia (P)2021 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

"Extraordinary...stunning." (Elizabeth Macneal, author of The Doll Factory)

"Vivid details, visceral prose and strong willful women." (Angie Cruz, author of Dominicana

"Vivid, engrossing, luminous." (Sharlene Teo, author of Ponti

What listeners say about Of Women and Salt

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Held such promise

I very much looked forward to reading this novel and I have to confess I was disappointed. Much is explained by listening to the interview with the author at the end, where it’s revealed the book started life as a series of short stories. Each story is told from the perspective of a series of women, but no single woman is allowed to articulate the entirety of her story. I won’t plot spoil - I will just say that one person’s demise is narrated through the mouth of another at a completely different point in time. Very postmodern I hear you cry, and you’re probably right. I would have so loved to have traveled further with any one of the characters rather than have left them in some metaphorical waiting room.

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Perfectly layered generational Matriarchy

Loved this audiobook

Women’s voices were their Herstory through struggles and triumphs.

It felt like being inside a realistic fairy tale

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Didn't want this to end!

I nearly DNF this but I am so glad I went back to it because it just got better and better!

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Generation-spanning saga

I found the audiobook initially difficult to get into as I wasn't fond at first of Frankie Corzo's narration. Her tone can be quite monotonous, I found. The story easily draws you in though - it's a fascinating generation-spanning saga told entirely through the viewpoints of women. I loved it and would recommend it.