Excerpt from Saltcrop by Yume Kitasei, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

Skipper reaches Gull Gang Rock and pauses to balance in its shadow, bracing herself for the freezing spray. Once, this beach was covered in white sand, before rocks were dumped to slow erosion. The rocks are perfect for a certain kind of mussel.

Last year, she seeded a long rope with mussel larvae and hung it down in the ocean water in the lee of Gull Gang Rock. The mussels are minimally engineered, which means they are cheap and more likely to die. In nature, baby mussels are born in the gills of adult mussels, and their larvae nestle in the tissue of unsuspecting fish until they're big enough to survive. Why would a fish put up with that?

There are never a lot of fish around, but she's recently noticed baby mussels budding beyond her rope in the cracks and crevices nearby. It's a reason to hope: nature returning, one step at a time. Maybe a sign of something more. It's not that Skipper believes in things like that, but she wishes she did, so she lets herself pretend, just like she pretends Nora is on her way home.

Skipper comes by this rock every so often to examine the mussels and their pretty black shells, shiny and expectant. The last time, there was maybe a bucket worth of big guys ready to collect.

Her mouth waters in anticipation, remembering how they tasted years ago: melted butter, salt, onions, several cloves of garlic, and the soft flesh parting between her teeth. Scarcity looms following a poor harvest year due to flooding, and the mussels promise a treat before a long march of cabbage, potatoes, and beets.

When she edges to the spot, though, the mussels are gone, and not just the big ones. She balances on one leg and leans around the rock to be sure, thinking at first maybe the rope just slipped. But no, there are a few tiny ones, that's it. Someone has been here, has taken her whole stash.

Excerpted from Saltcrop by Yume Kitasei. Copyright © 2025 by Yume Kitasei. Excerpted by permission of Flatiron Books. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.