Above the Salt

Drue Heinz Literature and Prairie Schooner Book Prize winner Vaz (The Love Life of an Assistant Animator) draws from historical events to craft this sweeping story of love, faith, and what it means to build community. John and Mary seem destined to collide and separate over and over during their turbulent lives in the mid-1800s. They first come together briefly as childhood friends in 1840s on the Portuguese island of Madeira before being thrust apart by religious intolerance. They meet again in pre–Civil War Illinois as both become involved in the lives of the Lincolns, before parting ways once more. Gisela Chípe’s narration expertly reflects the dreamy and lyrical style that Vaz brings to this epic story. She lingers over the lush descriptions of Madeira and its natural wonders and brings the necessary weight to John’s appalling experiences fighting for the Union during the Civil War. Listeners will be swept away in the scope of the times and yet find comforting intimacy in the way the main characters navigate their feelings and obligations to themselves and their communities.