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Library | Call Number | Status |
|---|---|---|
Searching... Hardwood Creek Library (Forest Lake) | FICTION BAK | Searching... Unknown |
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Searching... R.H. Stafford Library (Woodbury) | FICTION BAK | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Stillwater Public Library | FICTION BAK | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
The author of the New York Times bestselling The Little Giant of Aberdeen County returns with a magic-tinged tale of dreams, family secrets, and betrayals on a New England salt farm.
In the isolated Cape Cod village of Prospect, the Gilly sisters are as different as can be. Jo, a fierce and quiet loner, is devoted to the mysteries of her family's salt farm, while Claire is popular, pretty, and yearns to flee the salt at any cost. But the Gilly land hides a dark legacy that proves impossible to escape. Although the community half-suspects the Gilly sisters might be witches, it doesn't stop Whit Turner, the town's wealthiest bachelor, from forcing his way into their lives. It's Jo who first steals Whit's heart, but it is Claire--heartbroken over her high school sweetheart--who marries him.
Years later, estranged from her family, Claire finds herself thrust back onto the farm with the last person she would have chosen: her husband's pregnant mistress. Suddenly, alliances change, old loves return, and new battle lines are drawn. What the Gilly sisters learn about each other, the land around them, and the power of the salt, will not only change each of their lives forever, it will also alter Gilly history for good.
Author Notes
Tiffany Baker is the author of The Gilly Salt Sisters and The Little Giant of Aberdeen County , which was a New York Times and San Francisco Chronicle bestseller. She holds an MFA (creative writing) and a PhD (Victorian Literature) from UC Irvine, and lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband and three children.
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
From the author of The Little Giant of Aberdeen County comes this quirky and uneven novel set on Cape Cod's salt marshes and the family salt farm of the Gilly sisters, Jo and Claire. After the deaths of their brother, Henry, and later, their mother, Claire sets a barn on fire, and as a result, badly scars her older sister. She then marries into the town's most prominent and acquisitive family, leaving Jo to run the failing farm on her own. The prologue establishes the novel's strong gothic overtones, especially Jo's memories of the town's annual scrying, a fortune-telling practice in which she was required to throw salt into a bonfire to predict events for the coming year, with unhappy results. Though the contrast between familiar, universal conflicts and the forays into the mysteries of the elemental sometimes works against the narrative, the characters and Baker's prose engage. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
In her second novel, Baker (The Little Giant of Aberdeen County, 2009) follows the lives of two sisters whose family has always harvested salt that may or may not have magical powers over their Cape Cod community. The town of Prospect (a town unbelievably untouched by modern life or tourists) depends on salt from the Gilly Salt Creek Farm for luck; the residents read their futures in the colors rising from Gilly salt thrown on the annual bonfire. Although the Gillys attend the same Catholic Church as everyone else in town, the feared power of their salt makes them permanent outsiders. As the book opens, the Gilly sisters have grown estranged. Younger, pretty Claire has married local rich boy (and her sister Jo's former boyfriend) Whit Turner, and joined local society, while Jo remains on the struggling farm. Why is Whit so anxious to buy Jo out and Claire so anxious to turn people against Jo's salt? Flashbacks show Jo has always been committed to harvesting the salt since her childhood in the 1950s, while book-smart Claire always wanted desperately to get away. Jo's one childhood playmate was Whit, son of the wealthiest family in town. Whit's mother wanted the children to have nothing to do with each other, and Jo's mother was equally unenthusiastic. Shortly before charming but headstrong Whit left town for boarding school, he tried to proclaim his love to Jo. But having learned a family secretone that most readers will guess way too soonJo broke off their budding romance. Years later, after Claire's boyfriend broke her heart by becoming a priest, a newly returned Whit wooed her. Twelve years later their marriage has soured. Then Whit begins an affair with a lonely young girl who has recently arrived in Prospect. When she becomes pregnant, Whit shows his darker side and all hell breaks loose. There are two fires, one accidental and one perhaps unintentionally lethal, before a discomfortingly amoral happy ending. Baker's gift for richly embroidered fantasy only partially compensates for the novel's inconsistency. Alice Hoffmanlite.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
As caretakers of the local salt marsh, the Gilly sisters, as well as the uniquely savory salt they produce, are common fixtures in the tiny village of Prospect. Inseparable as children but as different as night and day as adults, Jo and Claire Gilly struggle to navigate the small-town politics that still rule Prospect. When an old love resurfaces, Jo and Claire find that long-buried conflicts have yet to be fully resolved, and an entirely new set of battle lines threatens to divide the people of Prospect. Baker's second novel (after The Little Giant of Aberdeen County, 2009) is a heartfelt tale of family relationships, small-town drama, and new opportunities. Jo and Claire are well-drawn, finely crafted characters, and Baker adeptly describes the fractious and multilayered relationship the sisters have with one another. The imagery of Cape Cod is gorgeously rendered, leaving the reader with a fully immersive picture of the insular village. Loyal readers of Anita Shreve, Maeve Binchy, and Alice Hoffman should enjoy this poignant, lush, and well-written tale of family secrets, revenge, forgiveness, and connections not easily severed.--Turza, Stephanie Copyright 2010 Booklist
Library Journal Review
The residents of the small Cape Cod town Prospect have odd ways, not least of which is the annual December Eve (November 30) bonfire. The community gathers to watch one of the Gilly women, owners of Salt Creek Farm, throw their salt on the flames. Blue means a good year to come, red means love, and black means bad news. The salt has other magical properties as well, like creating or withholding success for businesses that stock it. Feared as possible witches rather than loved, the Gillys are respected by everyone but the wealthy Turners, who own most of Prospect. Producing the salt is backbreaking work, but Jo Gilly seems made for the job; she not only works the salt, she knows it inside and out. Her sister, Claire, is the opposite, eager to leave the farm. VERDICT Fans of Baker's acclaimed The Little Giant of Aberdeen County won't be disappointed with this quirky, complex, and original tale. It is also sure to enchant readers who enjoy Alice Hoffman and other authors of magical realism. [See Prepub Alert, 9/26/11.]-Nancy Fontaine, Dartmouth Coll., Hanover, NH (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
