The Gilly Salt Sisters [Hardcover]

Baker's novel is drawn directly from the land, a way of life as entrenched as the family history of Salt creek Farm on Cape Cod, secrets of the past dormant until the estrangement of sisters Joanna and Claire Gilly. While the salt marsh defines the parameters of their world, it is the sisters' differences that create a fault line through their relationship. Joanna understands the demands of the salt, accepts the hardships, even the superstitions that connect the Gillys to the town of Prospect. Claire, on the other hand, is constitutionally discontent, dreaming of escape from a grinding future with few rewards, appalled by her family's endless toil, the color leeched from her mother by years in the glare of the sun. Unlike the dark-haired Jo, Claire has white skin and flaming locks, her heart set on a local fisherman's son, Ethan Stone: "She didn't desire love, not until it caught her by surprise, opening up a greed in her so gaping and huge that she became a thief just to fill it."

Joanna's best friend since childhood is Whit Turner, son of Ida, Prospect's wealthiest maven and arbiter of town opinions. But there are years of enmity between the Turners and the Gillys, secrets buried in the bitter hearts of Ida Turner and Sarah Gilly rendering the territory between the families uninhabitable. Baker builds a provocative tale of familial division on the porous rocks of memory and desire, the misperception of circumstances, the weighty history of Salt Creek Farm, a family curse, a tragic fire, a vocation and an impulsive marriage tainted by greed. It is a cautionary tale beautifully rendered, with vivid images of salt, sky, love turned sour and beginnings forged of necessity. Two families bear the seeds of poisonous fruit from one generation to the next, the sun-scorched marsh contrasting with the dark grandeur of the Turner estate. But this is the story of the Gilly sisters, how they lost their way and how salt heals the most disfiguring of wounds. Luan Gaines/2012.

The story of The Gilly Salt Sisters revolves around the belief of there being mystical powers from the salt that the family has produced for centuries. The stories and legends of the powers the salt holds and has over others has been shared for generations, and perpetuated by both the town and the Gillys themselves. Their salt is used to foretell the future of the town, as well as those that inhabit the town. However, even though the townspeople have accepted the power of the salt, it has caused the Gilly women to be outcast from the community.

The Gilly sisters, Claire and Jo must each live with the legacy of the salt in her own way. While Claire goes to great lengths to sever all connections with the salt and her family, Jo is forced to stay behind and keep the family business running, trapped in a life that happened to her. There is a great deal of family history to sort through, and when young newcomer Dee finds herself living in the town, the lives of all three women begin to unfold and unravel. It is through their stories and the discoveries of one another's secrets that they learn about themselves as well. The connections these women share cause them to be bound each other in ways they never imagined.

While the first part of the book was very reminiscent of Alice Hoffman's Practical Magic, and served to flush out the characters and bring the reader into their lives, the second half lagged behind. The history of how the Gilly sisters got to where they are today is very important to the storyline. However, Baker gets so tied up in the past that the present is lost in the telling of it all. By the end, none of the characters are particularly likeable, and one may feel as though too much was told without enough reason. There is a fine line between just enough information and too much information, and this seems to be a case of the latter.

The Gilly Salt Sisters is a good book. There is nothing really bad about, but nothing that grabs the reader either. By the time I finished it, I was glad I finished it, but upset at the same time, because it felt so rushed at the end. The slightly mysterious, almost witchy quality of the Gilly women that was set up in the beginning of the story was nearly forgotten by the middle. I thought I was really going to like this book, and I wanted to like it, but there was just too much extra storyline trying to explain away the mysterious qualities- and that was the best part of the book. Baker needs to learn to let her characters tell the story as it unfolds, instead of trying to lay it all out on the table. Because, sometimes, a mysterious, perhaps witchy, woman is just what we all need.

I love a book with complex, flawed characters, and so I know the sisters in this novel are going to stick with me for a long time. The story is richly textured and the writing is beautiful. I loved how Baker took the idea of salt getting into everything and intensifying already present flavors, and how that idea played out in the relationships....Definitely one for the "keeper" shelf.