Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Jul 2007
336 pages
Genre: Literary Fiction
Publication Information
It is the summer of 1945 in Norfolk, England, and when Goose comes upon a German soldier buried neck deep in the mud of a local salt marsh, she pulls him out and brings him home. Nine months later, he vanishes in a makeshift boat, leaving Goose behind with a newborn daughter, Lil. Taught to read the clouds by her mother, Lil is curious and her childhood strange. When she becomes the object of two brothers' desire, her life takes a tragic turn.
Fifteen years later, it is Lil's son, Pip, who attempts to make sense of his family's intriguing history. Pip, who never utters a word, is alone and isolated in his mute world and is beguiled by the lovely flame-haired Elsie who lives nearby. Pip comes of age among the marshes like the generations before him—but will the misfortune of his family's past repeat itself through him?
Salt is a family saga that explores the relationship between people and the landscape in which they live. Atmospheric and lyrical, Jeremy Page's debut novel is revelatory in its use of language. For fans of John Banville and Marilynne Robinson, Salt signals the introduction of a significant writer.
"Starred Review. Page has reinvented the fairy tale with this disturbing and magical saga." - PW.
"Certainly well written, this first novel, which recalls Graham Swift's earlier Waterland, is recommended for larger British fiction collections but may have limited appeal for the general reader." - Library Journal.
"The operatic quality of Pip's story is something of a flaw, particularly with a finale whose fortissimo can't compensate for its thematic weakness. Yet Salt is thrilling and memorable in what it does so remarkably: provide images and rhythms that in Pip's voice seem to surge more from the landscape than from himself or the others. Again, to reverse a poet's phrase: It's as if Marianne Moore had written of real gardens with imaginary toads in them." - Los Angeles Times.
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Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Jeremy Page is a script editor, scriptwriter and author. He was born in Folkestone, Kent, in 1958 and attended the University of Warwick and the University of Bristol.
Page is the author of the novel Salt which was a finalist for both the Commonwealth Writer's Prize and the Jeff First Novel Award. He has previously worked as a scriptwriter and script editor of the BBC and Film Four. He lives in London with his wife and children.
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