The Salt God's Daughter
Books / Hardcover
ISBN: 1619020025 / Publisher: Soft Skull, September 2012
Raised by a mother who follows the cycles of the ocean and moon, sisters Ruthie and Dolly confront the social and sexual mores of their Long Beach, California home in the 1970s while Ruthie hides the truth about her young daughter.
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“Beautifully evokes scenes of two girls adrift in the . . . bohemian beach culture . . . a breathtaking, fiercely feminine take on American magical realism.” —Interview MagazineSet in Long Beach, California, beginning in the 1970s, The Salt God’s Daughter follows Ruthie and her older sister Dolly as they struggle for survival in a place governed by an enchanted ocean and exotic folklore. Guided by a mother ruled by magical, elaborately-told stories of the full moons, which she draws from The Old Farmer’s Almanac, the two girls are often homeless, often on their own, fiercely protective of each other, and unaware of how far they have drifted from traditional society as they carve a real life from their imagined stories.Imbued with a traditional Scottish folktale and hints of Jewish mysticism, The Salt God’s Daughter examines the tremulous bonds between sisters and the enduring power of maternal love—a magical tale that presents three generations of extraordinary women who fight to transcend a world that is often hostile to those who are different.“Indeed, Ruby has written a complicated, multi-layered work that shifts shapes to bridge the relationship between tragedy and redemption.” --The Huffington Post“Three generations of indelibly original women wrestle with the confines of their lives against a shimmering backdrop of magic, folklore, and deep-buried secrets . . . To say I loved this book is an understatement.” --Caroline Leavitt, New York Times bestselling author“The selkie myth lies at the heart of Ruby’s second novel . . . This is a bewitching tale of lives entangled in lushly layered fables of the moon and sea.” --Kirkus Reviews
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