#BlogTour| #BookReview | #IncidentReport | WE WERE THE SALT OF THE SEA by Roxanne Bouchard @RBouchard72 @givemeawave ‏(March 30th 2018, Orenda Books @OrendaBooks)

Welcome to my stop on this Blog Tour for the release of WE WERE THE SALT OF THE SEA by Roxanne Bouchard.

I would like to say that it is truly my pleasure to be invited onto this blog tour! Particular thanks to Anne Cater, Karen @ Orenda Books and the wonderful Roxanne Bouchard who gifted me an early copy of WE WERE THE SALT OF THE SEA. I am forever grateful and promise that the review below is 100% honest and of my own views.

To kick off, we have the “blurb” for the book;

As Montrealer Catherine Day sets foot in a remote fishing village and starts asking around about her birth mother, the body of a woman dredges up in a fisherman’s nets. Not just any woman, though: Marie Garant, an elusive, nomadic sailor and unbridled beauty who once tied many a man’s heart in knots.

Detective Sergeant Joaquin Morales, newly drafted to the area from the suburbs of Montreal, barely has time to unpack his suitcase before he’s thrown into the deep end of the investigation. On Quebec’s outlying Gaspé Peninsula, the truth can be slippery, especially down on the fishermen’s wharves.

Interviews drift into idle chit-chat, evidence floats off with the tide and the truth lingers in murky waters. It’s enough to make DS Morales reach straight for a large whisky.

So, want to know what I thought?

Well, what can I say? Orenda have done it again! They are the literary Santa Claus and we are all the good children! We have been given the gift of superb writing and story telling and I for one am rather pleased with my gift!

This book has been categorised as crime fiction, but as many are already pointing out – this is also an ode to the ocean. A calming entity that many people can relate to and you soon become lost in everything Roxanne has to offer which I experienced similar feelings when reading SEALSKIN. It is too easy to sit and read this book in one sitting (as I did!) and feel like you have experienced nearly every emotion you have.

Hands down, WE WERE THE SALT OF THE SEA is one of the most unique crime fiction stories I have had the pleasure of reading. Kudos to the translator; David Warriner who was able to bring Roxanne’s words into English without losing the magic of her original telling.

About Roxanne Bouchard;

Roxanne Bouchard reads a lot, but she laughs even more. Her first novel, Whisky et Paraboles, garnered an array of prestigious awards in Quebec and caught the attention of British researcher, Jasmina Bolfek-Radovani, of the University of Westminster, who saw for herself how Roxanne weaves poetry and geography together to delve into her characters’ intimate worlds. This desire for intimacy permeates all of Roxanne’s novels, as well as her play, J’t’aime encore, and her published essays, which have focused on the human aspects and impacts of the military. In 2013, the publication of her private correspondence with Corporal Patrick Kègle, entitled En terrain miné, started quite the conversation.

This thought-provoking discussion about the need for weapons was a stepping-stone for Roxanne to undertake unprecedented research at Quebec’s largest military base. Meeting and speaking with dozens of women and men who served in Afghanistan in 2009 inspired her to write a collection of hard-hitting short stories, Cinq balles dans la tête, slated for publication in autumn 2017.

We Were the Salt of the Sea is Roxanne Bouchard’s fifth novel, and the first to be translated into English. As much a love story and a nostalgic tale as it is a crime novel, it was shortlisted for a number of crime fiction and maritime literature awards in Quebec and France. It haunts people’s memories, ties seafarers’ hearts in knots and seeps its way into every nook and cranny, but most importantly, the sea in this book is a calling for us all to set our sails to the wind. Roxanne Bouchard is currently writing an essay on literary creativity and plotting Detective Sergeant Joaquin Moralès’s next investigation.

 

You can buy WE WERE THE SALT OF THE SEA from the following booksellers (but as always, be kind to your local bookseller!);

Amazon (UK) | Amazon (US) | Book Depository | Waterstones

-S.

Be sure to check out the other blogs participating in this Blog Tour. See below for further details and be sure to follow all of the action across Twitter!