Josie Henderson is most at home in and around water, and as a senior-level black female scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, she is practically alone in her field. But in building this impressive life for herself, she has tried to shed the one thing she cannot: her family roots back in Cleveland. When Tick, her brother and childhood ally against their alcoholic father, arrives on her doorstep fresh from rehab and teetering on the edge of a relapse, Josie must finally face her family’s past–and her own patterns of addiction.
Southgate skillfully charts the lives of the Hendersons from Josie’s parents’ first charmed meeting to Josie’s dawning comprehension that the ways of the heart are more complex than anything studied under a microscope.
The Taste of Salt
by Martha Southgate
ISBN 978-1-56512-925-2
$13.95 Trade Paper
September 2011
Advance Praise for The Taste of Salt:
“A haunting novel about the ways we hurt and are hurt by the people we love most in the world, and about how, despite that, we find solace in their love.”—Ayelet Waldman, author of Red Hook Road
“A poignant exploration of the legacies our families leave us and the dangers of trying to deny them.”—Danielle Evans, author of Before you Suffocate Your Own Fool Self
“Open-hearted and open-eyed, Southgate explores how we come together, how we come apart, and how we hold one another, with all our beauties and flaws.”—Stacey D’Ersamo, author of The Sky Below
“Extraordinarily moving and keenly sensitive tour de force that will linger in your mind and heart for a long time.”—James Hannaham, author of God Says No
“Martha Southgate has written a tender, confident, and unfussy novel about a marine biologist who tries to save herself by shutting out the human world. Of course, that never works, and her journey back toward connection gives this novel its charge. This book is a moving eulogy for lost loved ones and even for a lost, loved city, Cleveland. The Taste of Salt had me misting up by the end. For real.”—Victor LaValle, author of Big Machine
“The Taste of Salt is a beautiful and heartbreaking portrait of a modern family. Employing a chorus of voices and perspectives, Martha Southgate probes the depths of her troubled characters with clarity and tenderness.”—Dan Chaon, author of Await Your Reply
