The Gilly Salt Sisters

October 31, 2011
From the author of The Little Giant of Aberdeen County comes this quirky and uneven novel set on Cape Cod’s salt marshes and the family salt farm of the Gilly sisters, Jo and Claire. After the deaths of their brother, Henry, and later, their mother, Claire sets a barn on fire, and as a result, badly scars her older sister. She then marries into the town’s most prominent and acquisitive family, leaving Jo to run the failing farm on her own. The prologue establishes the novel’s strong gothic overtones, especially Jo’s memories of the town’s annual scrying, a fortune-telling practice in which she was required to throw salt into a bonfire to predict events for the coming year, with unhappy results. 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.

March 1, 2012
In her second novel, Baker (The Little Giant of Aberdeen County, 2009) follows the lives of two sisters whose family has always harvested salt that may or may not have magical powers over their Cape Cod community. The town of Prospect (a town unbelievably untouched by modern life or tourists) depends on salt from the Gilly Salt Creek Farm for luck; the residents read their futures in the colors rising from Gilly salt thrown on the annual bonfire. Although the Gillys attend the same Catholic Church as everyone else in town, the feared power of their salt makes them permanent outsiders. As the book opens, the Gilly sisters have grown estranged. Younger, pretty Claire has married local rich boy (and her sister Jo's former boyfriend) Whit Turner, and joined local society, while Jo remains on the struggling farm. Why is Whit so anxious to buy Jo out and Claire so anxious to turn people against Jo's salt? Flashbacks show Jo has always been committed to harvesting the salt since her childhood in the 1950s, while book-smart Claire always wanted desperately to get away. Jo's one childhood playmate was Whit, son of the wealthiest family in town. Whit's mother wanted the children to have nothing to do with each other, and Jo's mother was equally unenthusiastic. Shortly before charming but headstrong Whit left town for boarding school, he tried to proclaim his love to Jo. But having learned a family secret--one that most readers will guess way too soon--Jo broke off their budding romance. Years later, after Claire's boyfriend broke her heart by becoming a priest, a newly returned Whit wooed her. Twelve years later their marriage has soured. Then Whit begins an affair with a lonely young girl who has recently arrived in Prospect. When she becomes pregnant, Whit shows his darker side and all hell breaks loose. There are two fires, one accidental and one perhaps unintentionally lethal, before a discomfortingly amoral happy ending. Baker's gift for richly embroidered fantasy only partially compensates for the novel's inconsistency. Alice Hoffman-lite.

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October 15, 2011

Baker follows up her splendidly offbeat debut, The Little Giant of Aberdeen County, with the story of two sisters: independent-minded Jo Gilly is committed to the family's Cape Cod salt farm, but prom queen-type sister Claire wants out. Expect lots of interest.

Copyright 2011 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 1, 2012
As caretakers of the local salt marsh, the Gilly sisters, as well as the uniquely savory salt they produce, are common fixtures in the tiny village of Prospect. Inseparable as children but as different as night and day as adults, Jo and Claire Gilly struggle to navigate the small-town politics that still rule Prospect. When an old love resurfaces, Jo and Claire find that long-buried conflicts have yet to be fully resolved, and an entirely new set of battle lines threatens to divide the people of Prospect. Baker's second novel (after The Little Giant of Aberdeen County, 2009) is a heartfelt tale of family relationships, small-town drama, and new opportunities. Jo and Claire are well-drawn, finely crafted characters, and Baker adeptly describes the fractious and multilayered relationship the sisters have with one another. The imagery of Cape Cod is gorgeously rendered, leaving the reader with a fully immersive picture of the insular village. 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.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)