A Sweet Sting of Salt

Rose Sutherland

Release date: April 9th, 2024
Genre: Historical, Fantasy, Retelling

SYNOPSIS:

Once a young woman uncovers a dark secret about her neighbor and his mysterious new wife, she’ll have to fight to keep herself—and the woman she loves—safe in this stunning queer reimagining of the classic folktale “The Selkie Wife.”

When a sharp cry wakes Jean in the middle of the night during a terrible tempest, she’s convinced it must have been a dream. But when the cry comes again, Jean ventures outside and is shocked by what she discovers—a young woman in labor, drenched to the bone in the bitter cold and able to speak barely a word of English.

Although Jean is the only midwife for miles around, she’s at a loss for who this woman is or where she’s from; Jean can only assume that she must be the new wife of the neighbor up the road, Tobias. And when Tobias does indeed arrive at her cabin in search of his wife, Muirin, Jean’s questions continue to multiply. Why has he kept his wife’s pregnancy a secret? And why does Muirin’s open demeanor change completely the moment she’s in his presence?

Though Jean learned long ago that she should stay out of other people’s business, her growing concern—and growing feelings—for Muirin mean that she can’t simply set her worries aside. But when the answers she finds are more harrowing than she ever could have imagined, she fears she may have endangered herself, Muirin, and the baby. Will she be able to put things right and save the woman she loves before it’s too late, or will someone have to pay for Jean’s actions with their life?

REVIEW:

I haven’t read the original classic of The Selkie Wife, but I am familiar with it and have seen other versions of the tale over the years. If you want a real visual treat, I highly recommend watching the animated film Song of the Sea. The artwork and story are absolutely beautiful – you can also get a graphic novel version if you’d rather read it.

The author living in a Nova Scotian town very similar to where the story takes place lent the story a stunningly realistic atmosphere. One of my only writing complaints (and I can overlook it in this story) was the inclusion of modern curse words. It wasn’t common to see them in the story but when they were there it stuck out to me. While I don’t live alone the author truly captured how terrifying it can be to be isolated from others in a rural setting – especially when a person is threatening you and/or your livelihood. Definitely had chills throughout that portion of the story and kept me up to see how it resolved.

Jean is a midwife to her small town and has worked extremely hard to gain the respect of her peers. Her life revolves around helping others so it was no surprise that she answered the cries of Muirin outside her door on a bitterly cold and stormy night. She definitely bites off more than she realizes in assisting Muirin but doesn’t realize it until she experiences the atmosphere between husband and wife. The full scope of his treatment of Muirin got my rage up, but honestly, for the time period it fit. I can only imagine how many poor women experienced what she did back then. I loved how Jean and Muirin’s relationship grew organically (even if over a short time) and how it was looped back towards their history. One last thing that I loved that the author included was post-partum depression (it wasn’t called that then of course), the impact it had on Jean and how she (and her mentor) checked on the new mothers to make sure that they had everything that they needed.

I would like to thank Dell and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this sapphic retelling of The Selkie Wife – all opinions are my own. I find that I much prefer this story to the original and I enjoyed reading the author’s note & the interview questions. This book also includes discussion questions in the event it is read with a group.