Eliza Henry-Jones

Salt and Skin is a contemporary literary fiction by Australian author Eliza Henry-Jones and is longlisted for the 2023 Indie Book Award.

Widowed Luda Managan and her two teenage children, Darcy and Min, move to Seannay island in the Orkneys in Scotland. Luda works as a photographer, raising awareness about environmental issues. Publishing a photo of a child taken in the moments before her death in a landslide turns the locals against Luda and repercusses through the story. The children soon befriend Theo, the mysterious, luminous foundling who washed up on the island years before with webbing between his fingers. The islanders believe he is a selkie.

The story began very well and I was intrigued by the mystery surrounding Theo and also the mystery of why some of the islanders have a kind of sight that reveals the hidden scars on the skin of anyone on Seannay. There is also a storyline involving the historical witch trials on the Orkneys. The women who were killed were accused of communicating with the whales. Then there are the mysterious witch marks on the walls of the ghost house, protective engravings on the walls. There were so many fascinating facets to the story but sadly all of these tantalizing titbits are thrown out to lure the unsuspecting reader in, only to leave you frustrated and annoyed when halfway through it degenerates into a slow, ponderous, indulgent treatise on the awkward relationships between the family, and also Theo. None of the mysteries are concluded, none of the storylines actually go anywhere, and the ambivalent ending was an anticlimax to say the least. Even the gay romance that was presumably meant to be slow burn eventually just became frustrating. My favourite character was aunt Casandra, but even her story was not fleshed out and explained. The priest was a dangerous misogynist, and somehow a story that sets out to be empowering to women isn’t really.

The audiobook accents were brilliant. The first half of the book was a four to five star read, the second half probably two stars at best, so overall I’m going with three stars, but almost reluctantly, as the writer clearly has the skill to set out a great story, so why did she leave us high and dry?… (mais)

This story of Stella and her very broken family grew on me through I found myself wishing for some good news towards the end of the book; as there was so much depressing stuff happening. So lets see...Stella is 17 and has just found out that she is adopted and her birth mother has been writing to her for years. Her father is a gambling addict and has lost his job and subsequently the family home so they are having to move into a caravan park which has a terrible reputation as a den of meth labs and drug dealers. Her sister Taylor has been expelled from Stella's school for setting fire to the Library and is basically a wild child who climbs on the roof when she can't get her own way. And finally, there is her mother who still loves Stella's father despite having to work two jobs and keep him from the pokies and the track. Not very cheery stuff.
Stella survives through the friendship from Clem, Zin and Lara but is clueless as to Clem's developing feelings for her....thus more complications in her very complicated life.
After she moves into the caravan park, Stella keeps it a secret from her friends at school but soon comes to love all the residents of the park with all their quirks and faults, as they have a real community vibe happening. On top of all this, she and her sister try to keep their dad away from gambling AND Stella must decide whether or not she wants to contact her birth mother.
This is a lot to put into one book, but the author has done it very well and you can see all the characters as true people with their flaws and selfishness. Things come to a head when Stella decides to stay with her very broken birth mother and there is a flood that threatens to swamp the caravan park. Engrossing story .… (mais)