Advanced
Error loading page.
Try refreshing the page. If that doesn't work, there may be a network issue, and you can use our self test page to see what's preventing the page from loading.
Learn more about possible network issues or contact support for more help.
Title details for Above the Salt by Katherine Vaz - Available

Above the Salt

A Novel

by Katherine Vaz
Gisela Chípe
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
Borrow Listen to a sample Listen to a sample
1 of 1 copy available

An irresistible and sweeping love story that follows two Portuguese refugees who flee religious violence and reignite their budding romance in Civil-War America.

"Gisela Chípe's sensitive performance combined with Katherine Vaz's artful prose offers a recipe for hours of enchanting listening."—AudioFile (Earphones Award Winner)

"Vaz's work is gorgeous at every level—singing sentences and pull-you-in plot. She is the real thing, an American treasure." —Tayari Jones, New York Times bestselling author of An American Marriage
John Alves, son of a famous Presbyterian martyr on the Portuguese island of Madeira, spends his childhood in jail and in poverty. When he meets Mary Freitas—though the adopted daughter of a master botanist, her true lineage is the subject of dangerous rumor—a spark kindles a lasting bond. But soon their families must confront the rising blood tide of warfare between Catholics and Protestants. Fleeing with only what they can carry, John and Mary are separated and arrive at different times and places in a rapidly growing and changing mid-nineteenth-century Illinois.
Years later, John settles into his life as an educator at Jacksonville's nationally renowned school for the deaf, and Mary is a gardener in Springfield for handsome, wealthy Edward Moore. After John and Mary reconnect, the home of rising politician Abraham Lincoln provides a prime setting for their courtship. But conflict looms on the horizon, and John is torn. Should he join the Union army to prove his loyalty to his new country, or should he stay to fight for the chance to make a life with the one he loves?
And should Mary accept Edward's marriage proposal since he is a partner in her business of selling the miracle-berry fruit she transported from Madeira, or should she choose her passion for John? Social jealousies and betrayals compound the obstacles unleashed by the Civil War.
In poignant and lyrical prose, Katherine Vaz's Above the Salt is a captivating and beautiful tribute to the power of true love and the sacrifices we make to harness it.
A Macmillan Audio production from Flatiron Books.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    November 7, 2023

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781250325044
      • File size: 546978 KB
      • Duration: 18:59:32

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from August 28, 2023
      Vaz (Mariana) draws on the real-life story of Portuguese immigrant and Civil War veteran John Alves for a sprawling yet intimate epic of persecution, reinvention, and romance. After surviving imprisonment for heresy with his Presbyterian mother on the Portuguese island of Madeira in the 1840s, five-year-old John meets Maria Freitas, an adoptee raised by a Catholic gardener sympathetic to the country’s marginalized Protestants. Their brief childhood friendship flares back to life when the two are reacquainted as adults in 1860 Illinois. Maria, now Mary, is reluctantly engaged to a botany professor and trying to find a market for the miracle berry plants she and her father brought to America. John teaches at a school for the Deaf and is working on a machine he hopes will record sound. Under the looming threat of war and faced with religious and social obstacles, John and Mary pursue a love that will reverberate through the rest of their lives. In lyrical prose, Vaz conveys her characters’ curiosity about the world’s beauty (“They hauled blankets out where the stars were like knots on the back of satin that God and all the dead were stitching; what handiwork was on the other side?”) and doles out powerful observations on human nature, such as this description of a businessman trying to hustle Mary: “His paper-thin skin advertised his bones. Men like this resembled their own memento mori, and yet they never saw it.” Readers will be entranced by this ambitious and heartbreaking saga. Agent: Ellen Levine, Trident Media Group.

    • Library Journal

      May 31, 2024

      Drue Heinz Literature and Prairie Schooner Book Prize winner Vaz (The Love Life of an Assistant Animator) draws from historical events to craft this sweeping story of love, faith, and what it means to build community. John and Mary seem destined to collide and separate over and over during their turbulent lives in the mid-1800s. They first come together briefly as childhood friends in 1840s on the Portuguese island of Madeira before being thrust apart by religious intolerance. They meet again in pre-Civil War Illinois as both become involved in the lives of the Lincolns, before parting ways once more. Gisela Ch�pe's narration expertly reflects the dreamy and lyrical style that Vaz brings to this epic story. She lingers over the lush descriptions of Madeira and its natural wonders and brings the necessary weight to John's appalling experiences fighting for the Union during the Civil War. Listeners will be swept away in the scope of the times and yet find comforting intimacy in the way the main characters navigate their feelings and obligations to themselves and their communities. VERDICT Recommended for fans of Gabriel Garc�a M�rquez and Hilary Mantel.--Natalie Marshall

      Copyright 2024 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

Loading
Check Out What's Being Checked Out Right Now