A Sweet Sting of Salt : A Novel

Sutherland’s lush A Sweet Sting of Salt gives readers a sapphic retelling of selkie folklore. Selkies are creatures who can shapeshift between human and seal forms by either putting on or removing their seal skins. In the most common version of the story, a human man forces a selkie into marrying him by stealing and hiding her seal skin, thus preventing her from returning to the sea.

When a cry awakens Jean, the only midwife in her isolated seaside town, during the middle of a storm, she’s shocked to discover a mysterious woman in labor. After Jean’s neighbor Tobias comes to collect the woman, Muirin, and reveals her as his new wife, Jean finds herself drawn to a woman as mystifying as the sea itself. Set in 19th century Nova Scotia, Sutherland breathes both a new setting and new life into traditional selkie tales. More importantly, she gives Muirin and Jean the ending they deserve.