The Salvage

The Salvage by Anbara Salam is a gothic, feminist, folk horror, haunted ship, Sapphic love story with elements of Cold War hysteria and an increasingly unreliable narrator - and it was totally engaging. 

It’s 1962, and Marta Khoury’s young marriage is over, in part due to her affair with and the accidental drowning of her husband (and boss)’s friend Lewis, on a remote Scottish island where he was from. Soon after, Marta, a marine archaeologist, has a chance to salvage a ship from the 1800s off the coast of that same island, Cairnroch, to recover the remains and effects of “Auld James”, ancestor of the Purdies, who own or control most of the town. 

As her guilt about Lewis’ death - and she thinks Lewis himself - haunt her, unusual events beset the whole town, from a fire at the lighthouse the day she recovers Auld James’ body to a false alarm about a missile attack to a snowstorm that extends Marta’s visit by weeks - giving her more time to get to know Innkeeper Elsie and to resolve the issues with the salvage endangering her job. 

The Salvage is an interesting mix of folklore, religion, and science which lead to a conclusion that doesn’t definitively answer every theory but is still completely satisfying.

It’s also a great winter read - as long as you’re wrapped in a warm blanket - because I’m cold right now just thinking about Salma’s descriptions of the cold and snow.  

Stray Thoughts:

Anytime someone in a book puts on a green wool sweater, it makes me wish I had one. I never get one, though, because I never find one that’s not itchy. 

Words I liked:

“Hirsute slug”

Thank you to NetGalley and Tin House for the review copy for my honest opinions.