The Salt in Our Blood

by Ava Morgyn

Overview

Ten years ago, Cat's volatile mother, Mary, left her at her grandmother’s house with nothing but a deck of tarot cards. Now seventeen, Cat is determined to make her life as different from Mary’s as possible. When Cat’s grandmother dies, she’s forced to move to New Orleans with her mother. There, she discovers a picture of Mary holding a baby that’s not her, leading her to unravel a dark family history and challenge her belief that Mary’s mental health issues are the root of all their problems. But as Cat explores the reasons for her mother’s breakdown, she fears she is experiencing her own. Ever since she arrived in New Orleans, she’s been haunted by strangely familiar visitors—in dreams and on the streets of the French Quarter—who know more than they should. Unsure if she can rebuild her relationship with her mother, Cat is realizing she must confront her past, her future, and herself in the fight to try.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780807572276
Publisher:	Whitman, Albert & Company
Publication date:	03/02/2021
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.25(h) x (d)
Age Range:	13 - 18 Years

About the Author

Ava Morgyn is a native Texan who grew up falling in love with all the wrong characters in all the wrong stories. She studied English Writing & Rhetoric at St. Edward's University and now resides in Houston. She writes a blog on child loss, ForLoveofEvelyn.com, and is author of the widely praised Resurrection Girls.

Editorial Reviews

"Morgyn creates an atmospheric narrative that tackles some facets of mental illness...might prove welcome to those who do not have traditional households."—School Library Journal

"An enthralling dive into trauma, mental health, and mother-daughter relationships."—Kirkus Reviews

"Polished prose conjures vivid pictures of the fantastical French Quarter and Cat's psychological landscape, and Morgyn handles difficult topics skillfully, landing somewhere between Laurie Halse Anderson and Brenna Yovanoff on a realism-to-supernatural trauma scale."—The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

"Draws readers in with an explosive start and then leads them deeper into the nuances of Cat's familial history with a tale that creeps along to a crescendoing finish...for readers who enjoy stories with a strong sense of place."—Booklist

From the Publisher

12/18/2020

Gr 8 Up—The summer before her senior year, Catia discovers that her grandmother Moony, who has been raising her, has died in her sleep. With nowhere else to turn, Cat reluctantly reaches out to her estranged mother, Mary, who brings her daughter back to her apartment in New Orleans. Her mother has been grappling with bipolar disorder for years, with extreme highs and lows that made parenting Cat impossible. A mixture of gritty realism and fantasy are intertwined unevenly as Cat moves between solving the mystery of her mother's past and interacting with other-worldly beings. Cat begins a healthy romance with a multi-racial young man who proves to be a good balance to her dysfunctional family dynamic. Tarot cards, mysticism, and religion tie in together as Cat unearths a secret from Mary's past that explains some of her behaviors and sets Cat on her own path of discovery. Morgyn creates an atmospheric narrative that tackles some facets of mental illness and how some youths end up taking a parental role in their relationship with a mother or father. An author's note explains Morgyn's connection with Mary's secret and includes the phone number for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. Cat and her family are white. VERDICT This magical realism story would be a good addition to larger collections and might prove welcome to those who do not have traditional households.—Nancy McKay, Byron P.L., IL

School Library Journal

2021-01-12
Plagued by dreams and strange visitors linked to a tarot deck, Cat tries to uncover her mentally ill mother’s secrets.

Cat’s lived with Moony, her maternal grandmother, since her mother, Mary, dropped her off at age 7 with a secret deck of tarot cards. Ten years later, Moony’s death brings estranged Mary back into Cat’s life; she relocates her daughter from Moony’s small Louisiana town to New Orleans, where she works as a tarot reader in the French Quarter. Mary’s severe bipolar disorder has hurt Cat deeply in the past and is depicted in painful, no-holds-barred details. Cat worries about her own sanity, knowing the disease’s genetic component—and because she’s haunted by people resembling the figures from the tarot deck both in dreams and, sometimes, on the streets of New Orleans. With the help of Daniel, her handsome love interest, Cat seeks answers about the people she’s seeing and the inciting trauma that triggered Mary’s illness. She finds far more than she bargained for, learning about old family secrets and devastating crimes and tragedies that her mother survived. The discoveries are well paced, the setting enchanting. Cat, Mary, and Moony are painted as complex characters caught in a complicated dynamic; their believability anchors the otherworldly elements and provides emotional weight to the stakes and resolution. Cat and her family are White; Daniel is a multiethnic Black boy.

An enthralling dive into trauma, mental health, and mother-daughter relationships. (author's note, resources) (Fiction. 14-18)

Kirkus Reviews