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.
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.
