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Book Summary and Reviews of The Gilly Salt Sisters by Tiffany Baker

The Gilly Salt Sisters by Tiffany Baker

The Gilly Salt Sisters

by Tiffany Baker

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  • Mar 2012, 384 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

In the isolated Cape Cod village of Prospect, the Gilly sisters are as different as can be. Jo, a fierce and quiet loner, is devoted to the mysteries of her family's salt farm, while Claire is popular, pretty, and yearns to flee the salt at any cost. But the Gilly land hides a dark legacy that proves impossible to escape. Although the community half-suspects the Gilly sisters might be witches, it doesn't stop Whit Turner, the town's wealthiest bachelor, from forcing his way into their lives. It's Jo who first steals Whit's heart, but it is Claire - heartbroken over her high school sweetheart - who marries him.

Years later, estranged from her family, Claire finds herself thrust back onto the farm with the last person she would have chosen: her husband's pregnant mistress. Suddenly, alliances change, old loves return, and new battle lines are drawn. What the Gilly sisters learn about each other, the land around them, and the power of the salt, will not only change each of their lives forever, it will also alter Gilly history for good.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"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." - Library Journal

"Loyal readers of Anita Shreve, Maeve Binchy, and Alice Hoffman should enjoy this poignant, lush, and well-written tale of family secrets, revenge, forgiveness, and connections not easily severed." - Booklist

"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." - Publishers Weekly

"Tiffany Baker's novel has grit and polish and some salt of its own. It's a beautifully written tale about the resourceful and determined connection of women. The Gilly Salt sisters are a brackish bunch - definitely my kind of people." - Brunonia Barry, author of The Lace Reader and The Map of True Places

This information about The Gilly Salt Sisters was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

Reader Reviews

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Diane S.

The Gilly Salt Sisters
I really enjoyed this book. The Tuners and the Gillys, old family residents of Prospect, a village in Cape Cod. The Gillys belong to the salt, salt is the magical element in this book that ties everything together, and the Turners want to own the whole town. Loved the character development in this novel, how they change with the circumstances and the trails they face. Shifting alliances, secrets revealed and tragedies, kept me reading to the end. Love magical realism when it is done well and this one certainly was. Will appeal to fans of Alice Hoffman, Aimee Bender and Sarah Addison Allen. Now I need to read Baker's first book.

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Author Information

Tiffany Baker Author Biography

Tiffany Baker’s Recipe For A Writing Life

A handful of islands: Belvedere , Aquidneck, Balboa, Manhattan, Corsica, Maui, the UK
Three small children: Two girls and a boy, plump in the cheeks and knees. Strong-willed but sweet when kissed.
One husband
Indecent amounts of chocolate and coffee
A view of a grassy ridge and an old gum tree

Start with the islands. Move from one to another up through your twenties. Add a graduate degree in creative writing from UC Irvine and then a PhD in Victorian literature for extra flavor, plus a smattering of tragic relationships. Move to New York to teach humanities, drink expensive cocktails, and give up on men.

Go hiking on Corsica with your mother. Meet your future husband. Move to England to be with him. ...

... Full Biography
Link to Tiffany Baker's Website

Other books by Tiffany Baker at BookBrowse
  • The Little Giant of Aberdeen County jacket
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