The Salty Taste of the Wind

A bittersweet chronicle of the transition from childhood to adolescence.

 

Caroline Toury’s first novel shows a very promising talent. With a simple style, the story is both gripping and deeply moving.

 

Prudence grew up on a boat, sailing with the wind, following her parents’ dream. This novel takes us from African coasts to the West Indies, through a detour to the United States. The tragedy is tangible from the very beginning, in the background of this story about the idyllic life of a welded family. The mother’s betrayal and the parents’ break-up are portrayed through the eyes of a rebellious teenager, who was snatched from her dream life. Prudence has to start over in an unknown environment. Like the hermit crab, she will have to find a bigger shell to fit her.

 

This novel is about this erratic and fragile time, with the memory of a lifetime of travels and adventures gradually fading away to make room for the resilience of the heroine and her family. We follow Prudence’ s memories between her former life on the boat, and her new life in the city of Nantes, in France. 

 

Themes: journey, teenage years, break-up