By Tyler Wright
Silvan-based author Eliza Henry-Jones is exploring the absence of women’s voices in history in her new novel released on Wednesday 3 August.
Inspired by the harsh and haunted Orkney Islands in Scotland, ‘Salt and Skin’ follows grief-stricken mother-of- two Luda Managan and her two teen-aged children Min and Darcy, who each try to cope with the loss of their husband and father.
Photographer Luda is drawn to the Scottish Islands to document the impacts of climate change, but is soon condemned by the community after publishing images of a local child’s death.
In her isolation, she begins investigating the stories behind women executed throughout 17th-century witch-hunts.
Luda’s restless and strong daughter Min forms an unlikely friendship with the local elderly and irreverent ‘witch,’ while her high achieving son Darcy strives for good grades, (and a path away from his mother.)
All the while, misunderstood Theo, who washed up on the island’s shores as a child with no memory of where he came from or to whom he belonged, teams up with the siblings to uncover the history of the isles and the community’s hidden secrets.
It was a trip to the Orkney Islands in 2017 which originally drove Eliza to pen the 100,000 word book.
“I didn’t even take my laptop with me [because] I didn’t think I’d be writing, and I needed a break,” Eliza said.
“We went to St Magnus Cathedral where they broke ground in 1137, and they actually had a dungeon where they used to hold people accused of witchcraft in the 17th-century – and you can still see the hangman’s ladder that they climbed to the gallows and where [women] were held in custody during their incarceration.
It was something about being confronted with the remnants of such an absolutely hideous time in history that just really got under my skin. I just couldn’t stop thinking about it. And that place formed the springboard that I used to get into the world of ‘Salt and Skin.’”
Released on Wednesday 3 August and published by Ultimo Press, the novel has been described by Readings as a “haunting and beguiling nightingale’s lullaby”.
“Beneath the dark allure of this Celtic setting, Salt and Skin is ultimately a tender story about family – both the ones that we are born into and the ones we make for ourselves – and how, through trial and adversity, family will always anchor each other down amid the tumultuous seas that threaten to tear them apart,” Readings Kids’ Aurelia Orr penned as an early reader.
Eliza said she has never received such an influx of effusive feedback from book bloggers.
“I’ve been really thrilled with that so far,” she said.
Eliza will be holding a Meet the Author event at Belgrave Library on Saturday 13 August from 11:00am to discuss ‘Salt and Skin’.
Miller’s Homestead in Boronia will also be home to an author’s talk from Eliza on Friday 2 September, followed by another Meet the Author event at Emerald Library on Saturday 8 October.
Eliza said there are signed copies of the novel at Healesville’s Verso Books and is available at most bookstores throughout the Yarra Valley.
For more information on ‘Salt and Skin,’ visit https://www.ultimopress.com.au/saltandskin or discover more of Eliza’s work, head to https://elizahenryjones.com.au/
