Above the Salt by Katherine Vaz

An irresistible and sweeping love story that follows two Portuguese
refugees who flee religious violence and reignite their budding romance
in Civil-War America.
John Alves, son of a famous Presbyterian martyr on the Portuguese island of
Madeira, spends his childhood in jail and in poverty. When he meets Mary
Freitas - though the adopted daughter of a master botanist, her true lineage is
the subject of dangerous rumor - a spark kindles a lasting bond. But soon their
families must confront the rising blood tide of warfare between Catholics and
Protestants. Fleeing with only what they can carry, John and Mary are
separated and arrive at different times and places in a rapidly growing and
changing mid-nineteenth-century Illinois.
Years later, John settles into his life as an educator at Jacksonville's nationally
renowned school for the deaf, and Mary is a gardener in Springfield for
handsome, wealthy Edward Moore. After John and Mary reconnect, the home
of rising politician Abraham Lincoln provides a prime setting for their courtship.
But conflict looms on the horizon, and John is torn. Should he join the Union
army to prove his loyalty to his new country, or should he stay to fight for the
chance to make a lifewith the one he loves?
And should Mary accept Edward's marriage proposal since he is a partner in
her business of selling the miracle-berry fruit she transported from Madeira, or
should she choose her passion for John? Social jealousies and betrayals
compound the obstacles unleashed by the Civil War.
In poignant and lyrical prose, Katherine Vaz's Above the Salt (...)

Katherine Vaz, a former Briggs-Copeland Fellow in Fiction at Harvard
University and a Fellow of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, is the
author of the novels Saudade, on the Discover Great New Writers list with
Barnes & Noble, and Mariana, in six languages and optioned by Harrison
Productions. Her collection Fado & Other Stories won a Drue Heinz Literature
Prize, and Our Lady of the Artichokes & Other Portuguese-American Stories
received a Prairie Schooner Book Award. Her fiction has appeared in dozens
of magazines, including Tin House, BOMB, Antioch Review, Iowa Review,
The Common, Narrative, Ninth Letter, and Glimmer Train . She is the first
Portuguese-American to have her work recorded for the Archives of the
Library of Congress (Hispanic Division)

Flatiron Books
On Sale: Nov 7/23
6.12 x 9.25 • 400 pages
Includes two black-and-white illustrations throughout
9781250873811 • $39.99 • CL - With dust jacket
Fiction / Historical