Gilly Salt Sisters by Tiffany Baker

by:  Tiffany Baker
published by:  Grand Central Publishers
publish date:  March 14, 2012

In the isolated Cape Cod village of Prospect, the Gilly sisters are as different as can be. Jo, a fierce and quiet loner, is devoted to the mysteries of her family's salt farm, while Claire is popular, pretty, and yearns to flee the salt at any cost. But the Gilly land hides a dark legacy that proves impossible to escape. Although the community half-suspects the Gilly sisters might be witches, it doesn't stop Whit Turner, the town's wealthiest bachelor, from forcing his way into their lives. It's Jo who first steals Whit's heart, but it is Claire--heartbroken over her high school sweetheart--who marries him.

Years later, estranged from her family, Claire finds herself thrust back onto the farm with the last person she would have chosen: her husband's pregnant mistress. Suddenly, alliances change, old loves return, and new battle lines are drawn. What the Gilly sisters learn about each other, the land around them, and the power of the salt, will not only change each of their lives forever, it will also alter Gilly history for good.

The Gilly Salt Sisters was one of those books that took me FOREVER to read.  I don't really know what it was about it.  My overall feeling towards it was generally positive.  It just wasn't one of those books that really grabbed me and held me and made me never want to put it down.

The book revolves around the mystical power of the salt that the Gilly family produces.  This concept is never really fully explained though.  Is it really magical or is the entire town just reacting as though it is?  Are the Gilly women witches?  Is the land cursed or bewitched?  It was all questioned in the book, but never really answered.  I guess that was left up to the reader to decide.  I suppose that would make it a good book club book.

Personally, I didn't accept the relationship that developed between Claire and Dee.  I don't want to give out any spoilers here, but they are the least likely of friends and they end up living together.  I didn't buy it.   Claire's return to the salt farm was a little bit of a stretch for me too.  Despite the circumstances that brought her back, it didn't seem like she would so easily return to something that she had been fighting so hard against for so long.

Like I said though, my overall feeling toward this book is positive.  The setting of a New England salt farm was unique.  While the first half of the book was somewhat slow, the second half was a lot more interesting.