Of Women and Salt by Gabriela Garcia

This novel was nominated for two Goodreads Choice Awards in 2021: Best Historical Fiction and Best Debut Novel.

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.

Gabriela Garcia's Of Women and Salt is a portrait of betrayals—personal and political, self-inflicted and those done by others—that have shaped the lives of these extraordinary women. This book is 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. It is more than a diaspora story; it is a story of America’s most tangled, honest, human roots.

“I was afraid to look back because then I would have seen what was coming.”

My Verdict: Carmen raised Jeanette in Miami, where Jeanette believes the reason they are estranged from their family in Cuba is about politics. It turns out that it has a lot more to do with the politics of what it takes to navigate the world as women. How do we learn to accept brutality? How do we escape it? and When do we learn to use it ourselves?

Central to the novel is the character of Jeanette. She is complex and I found myself "pulling for her" through the entire book. She is an addict, but she momentarily takes in a young girl who is left motherless. Jeanette has an ability to continue believing that the unexpected is possible, even when it repeatedly fails to materialize.

The threads tying the generations together are smoothly woven into a masterpiece and I found myself enthralled through the entire novel.

Early in the book, Jeanette thinks of Gloria: “Even the best mothers in the world can’t always save their daughters.” This book suggests that though this may be true, it is also true that in the face of tragedy, even the most flawed mothers may be able to help save someone else’s daughter. I give this book 5 stars.