Of Women and Salt

A Novel

By: Gabriela Garcia

Narrated by: Frankie Corzo, Gabriela Garcia

2021 Boston Globe Best Books of the Year
2021 Washington Post Best Books of the Year

This program includes a bonus conversation between the author and Roxane Gay.

A sweeping, masterful debut about a daughter's fateful choice, a mother motivated by her own past, and a family legacy that begins in Cuba before either of them were born

In present-day Miami, Jeanette is battling addiction. Daughter of Carmen, a Cuban immigrant, she is determined to learn more about her family history from her reticent mother and makes the snap decision to take in the daughter of a neighbor detained by ICE. Carmen, still wrestling with the trauma of displacement, must process her difficult relationship with her own mother while trying to raise a wayward Jeanette. Steadfast in her quest for understanding, Jeanette travels to Cuba to see her grandmother and reckon with secrets from the past destined to erupt.

From 19th-century cigar factories to present-day detention centers, from Cuba to Mexico, Gabriela Garcia's Of Women and Salt is a kaleidoscopic portrait of betrayals - personal and political, self-inflicted and those done by others - that have shaped the lives of these extraordinary women. A haunting meditation on the choices of mothers, the legacy of the memories they carry, and the tenacity of women who choose to tell their stories despite those who wish to silence them, this is more than a diaspora story; it is a story of America’s most tangled, honest, human roots.

A Macmillan Audio production from Flatiron Books

©2021 Gabriela Garcia (P)2021 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

April 2021's Indie Next pick

Roxane Gay's June 2021 Audacious Book Club Pick

A Most Anticipated Book: Books Are Magic, Bustle, Bookish, Buzzfeed, E! News, Electric Literature, Entertainment Weekly, Good Morning America, Goop, Goodreads, Harper's Bazaar, New York Times, O Magazine, Parade, Lit Hub, Refinery29, St. Louis Magazine, Vogue India, Write or Die Tribe, Reader's Digest, Palm Beach Daily, PopSugar, The Nerd Daily, TIME Magazine, Yahoo! News

"Of Women and Salt is a fierce and powerful debut. Garcia wields narrative power, cultivating true and profound work on migration, legacy, and survival." (Terese Marie Mailhot, best-selling author of Heart Berries)

“Gabriela Garcia captures the lives of Cuban women in a world to which they refuse to surrender and she does so with precision and generosity and beauty.” (Roxane Gay, best-selling author of Hunger and Bad Feminist)

"[A] beautifully evocative first novel...This book is shaped, and given buoyancy, by Garcia’s sharp prose and by Jeanette’s ability to continue believing that the unexpected is possible, even as it repeatedly fails to materialize." (New York Times Book Review)

Worth reading/listening to

The characters had so many facets and dimensions and to hear perspectives that are real, fluctuating gives them so much depth and realness… none of us feels the same all the time and being allowed to change or not change one’s mind or see things in a variety of lights is refreshing. …Especially in the male dominated world with so much presented as black and white.

captivating

loved this book! it took me a couple of chapters to ' get it'. I can understand why some reviews describe it as 'separate ' stories - however, pay attention from the beginning to names identifying the characters, and you will be enthralled with the story that connects so nicely. I could not put it down. it really describes well the experience of many immigrants, the pain.... and resilience.

An immigrant story that is not a cliche

I loved this novel. As an immigrant married to another immigrant I know there is no one story that describes the journey of the millions of people that every year come to this country from all over the world. These immigrants and their children and their children’s children are all affected in different ways and some suffer a lot more than others. This book explores that and I found myself in some parts of the story but not all of them, like It should be. Also, women carry the biggest burden as immigrants and this novel reflects that beautifully. I highly recommend it

Tears and Truths

I was tearfully transfixed and transported through Gabriela Garcia's masterful tapestry of words woven with energy, intelligence, imagination, and love. Written as a MFA thesis , this brilliantly cathartic and excellent example of expository writing is a gorgeous gem and treasure. Especially notable is the vibrant voice and narration of Frankie Corzo in the Audible book reading! The final chapter is truly a stunner! ~ Susie Hilton, Naples, Florida USA.

Incredible!

I don’t k ow what you’re doing, but drop it and read/ listen to this book! It’s fantastic! You’ll enjoy the rich descriptions and robust themes!

Book Club Pick

I listened to this story on audible because it was our book club pick , but I think it may have been the saddest pick so far. The story went by quickly, and the narration was excellent, but the time hopping and intersection of characters was a lot to keep up with, and in the end I just had an overall sad feeling of "what was the point?", and unfortunately, I can not say that I would recommend this book

Lovely writing

The story itself wasn’t amazing for me, but the writing coupled with the narrators voice had me listening for hours at a time. I wasn’t too invested in any of the characters, although they were interesting enough. I was captivated about where the story was going, and when it got there, I was pleasantly surprised.

would love to read again

This is one of those novels that you love the first time but know you could take even more from a second time around. Stunning.

Beautifully written, worth the read

The characters were all very interesting and their stories were beautifully told. Even though I enjoyed reading the book, it made me very sad for these women.

Interesting but not gripping

The chapters were pretty well written, but there was not a solid thread that connected all the stories to each other. I listened to the author’s conversation where she said this book started out as short stories and that is basically how this read. There wasn’t a solid plot and only one of the chapters/stories had me eagerly listening/turning the pages for more. As a Latina I loved seeing people like me and my family in the stories, but I wish this had read more like a novel and less like a bunch of short stories.