Of Women and Salt was the perfect read around International Women's Day. Following five generations of Cuban women and a Salvadorean mother and daughter, this book takes us on a journey across space and time to witness the strength and tenacity of women who choose to keep fighting against all odds.

These women are the only protagonists here, their voices (often silenced in their daily life) rising prominently to shine a light on their truths, their struggles, their pain, and their hopes for a better future. The men in their lives lurk in the background, their viewpoint unimportant and their main contribution being bringing pain and tears - or being conspicuously absent. The women finally take centre stage and reclaim what is theirs, even if only for short stretches. The book's nonlinear narration, in fact, means that it often reads more like a series of short stories or vignettes linked by a common thread.

Don't let this book's size fool you: despite being quite short, it is packed with content and material for reflections. It also takes some dark turns, and I found I often had to stop to give myself time to absorb what I'd just read and digest some of the harder themes. Covering everything from domestic violence to drug abuse, sexual violence and the harsh reality of a modern-day US immigration detention centre, Of Women and Salt is as far as from a light read as possible. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed it, in its own way.

The writing was beautiful and lyrical, and it quickly drew me in. The characters were complex and portrayed excellently, even if we only spent a limited time with each of them. The thing I struggled with most was the non-linear narration, but that's something I know I often find hard to follow. Each time/location change was clearly marked at the beginning of the new section, but I still found I often had to go back to remind myself how far in the future or in the past we had moved compared to what had come before.

Overall, this is a powerful book and a really strong debut from the author, and I look forward to reading more of her works in the future. Of Women and Salt takes an honest look at the harsh reality of life for many women, restoring their voices and their dignity, and certainly made me wish for the day when for women everywhere stories like this will be just that - stories.

CW: domestic abuse, sexual violence, imprisonment, child abuse, death, violence, drug abuse and addiction.

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I received an e-arc of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. This did not affect my opinion of the book in any way. ( )

Didn’t love but book club mostly did ( )

Not my usual sort of novel, sad stories of difficult lives and for me, confusing (chapters out of order, time-wise). Had great ending though. ( )

Writing style/Translation is too choppy for my taste. ( )

Multigenerational story of mothers and daughters in migrant families, this book reads as a series of interlinked stories. Several stories relate to Jeanette in present-day Miami, recovering from addiction, and her mother, Carmen. Jeanette watches her neighbor, Gloria, taken by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). She takes in the neighbor’s seven-year-old Salvadoran daughter, Ana, who was with her babysitter at the time. Moving back into history, we find one of Jeanette’s ancestors, a female cigar-roller working in Cuba in 1866. Moving forward, Gloria is being held in a detention center in Texas. The stories that follow offer commentary on addictions, abuse, US immigration policies, race, and class. These are stories of strong women making hard choices.

The author has taken on a large topic and covered it in a rather short novel. The prose is elegant. Garcia populates her stories with characters that feel authentic. They avoid categorization or stereotyping. One woman has developed a hard outer shell of protection, and has never shared her struggles with her daughter, leaving the daughter to wonder if she has ever truly known her mother. For me, the main drawback is a feeling that one storyline is not adequately established before moving to another. The overall cohesiveness of the disparate stories into a novel is not quite achieved.

I found it an insightful examination of the variety of challenges faced by immigrant women. It portrays the impact of decisions on future generations. It is an impressive debut. ( )