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    The Orphan of Salt Winds
    The Orphan of Salt Winds
    The Orphan of Salt Winds
    Audiobook8 hours

    The Orphan of Salt Winds

    Written by Elizabeth Brooks

    Narrated by Helen Lloyd

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    For fans of Eowyn Ivey, Rose Tremaine, and Kate Atkinson, The Orphan of Salt Winds is a bewitching debut about the secrets that haunt us.

    England, 1939. Ten-year-old Virginia Wrathmell arrives at Salt Winds, a secluded house on the edge of a marsh, to meet her adoptive parents―practical, dependable Clem and glamorous, mercurial Lorna. The marsh, with its deceptive tides, is a beautiful but threatening place. Virginia’s new parents’ marriage is full of secrets and tensions she doesn’t quite understand, and their wealthy neighbor, Max Deering, drops by too often, taking an unwholesome interest in the family’s affairs. Only Clem offers a true sense of home. War feels far away among the birds and shifting sands―until the day a German fighter plane crashes into the marsh, and Clem ventures out to rescue the airman. What happens next sets into motion a crime so devastating it will haunt Virginia for the rest of her life. Seventy-five years later, she finds herself drawn back to the marsh, and to a teenage girl who appears there, nearly frozen and burdened by her own secrets. In her, Virginia might have a chance at retribution and a way to right a grave mistake she made as a child.

    Elizabeth Brooks’s gripping debut mirrors its marshy landscape―full of twists and turns and moored in a tangle of family secrets. A gothic, psychological mystery and atmospheric coming-of-age story, The Orphan of Salt Winds is the portrait of a woman haunted by the place she calls home.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBrilliance Audio
    Release dateJan 15, 2019
    ISBN9781721332922
    The Orphan of Salt Winds
    Author

    Elizabeth Brooks

    Elizabeth Brooks grew up in Chester, England. She graduated from Cambridge University with a first-class degree in Classics, and lives on the Isle of Man with her husband and two children.

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    Reviews for The Orphan of Salt Winds

    3.5/5

    55 ratings9 reviews

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    • 4/5
      I received an ARC of this book for free from the publisher (Tin House Books) in exchange for an honest review. I give this book 3.5 stars which rounds up to 4. This was an incredibly atmospheric read. The setting, particularly the marsh, had a life of its own. The author did a fabulous job describing the setting which helped set the tone and the mood for the novel. As for the story itself, I was into it, but I wasn’t thrilled by it. I think it was because I had such high expectations going in. On the cover, the book is described as being reminiscent of Jane Eyre, which is one of my all time favorite books. It’s really tough to top that book. As I was reading the book, it was hard not to compare it to Jane Eyre. The story just didn’t move me as much as I would have liked it to. I never felt that connected to Virginia. I did like the dual storylines of Virginia when she was adopted (which was the main storyline) and Virginia as an old woman. I think the alternation between the two were really well done. The author coordinated the unfolding of events between the two perfectly. The contemporary chapter would subtly reveal something that the next historical chapter would delve into in great detail. For me, the strongest part of the book was Mr. Deering. He was a fearsome villain. I never knew what he was going to do because he was so unpredictable and creepy. It was so unsettling every time he entered Salt Winds. He’s one of the best villains I’ve encountered in literature this year. Overall, this book has a fantastic setting and villain, but the story leaves more to be desired.
    • 3/5
      I dont really like or dislike this book. Alot if switching in time to tell the story.
    • 4/5
      Virginia, now very old, recalls when she was adopted by a childless couple and taken to live in a remote house on the edge of the marsh at the age of ten and the tragic events of the next two years as England enters World War II. This is a slow-moving story, but I enjoyed the writing, the isolated setting, and discovering what happened to make present-day Virginia contemplate suicide and revenge. I think I would have liked more of an ending than we got, though.
    • 4/5
      3.5 It was good but weird. Sad. There were a few OHHHHHHH moments.
    • 3/5
      Eleven-year old Harriet, an orphan, is retrieved from the train station by her new father, Clem Wrathmell, who decides that they will make the long walk to her new home, a house known as Salt Winds on the verge of a dangerous marsh. Along the way, they are offered a ride by an acquaintance, Max Deering, but Clem declines. A perceptive girl, Harriet sense some tension between the two men, and that becomes even more apparent when Clem mentions Max to her new mother, Lorna. The strained relationships between these characters form the core of the novel.Brooks employs a framework that, personally, I am getting really tired of: moving back and forth between two time periods. (At least she sticks with Harriet in both the 1940 and 2015 chapters instead of having some scholar or descendant find a mysterious packet of letters or diary from the past . . . ) In the modern-day chapters, Harriet is an old woman who has decided that her time has come, and she plans to walk out into the marsh to die. Her plans are interrupted by the arrival of a young girl, who just happens to be Max Deering's great-granddaughter. Will Harriet finally have the chance to enact revenge on the descendant of the man she blames for all the loss and misery in her life?My feelings on this one are mixed. I think the author did a good job of getting inside of the mind of eleven-year old Harriet, but most of the other characters came across as stereotypes: the patient, loving father; the distant, beautiful mother; the evil, arrogant rich man; etc. As to the elderly Harriet, if what Brooks wanted was a one-dimensional character whose entire life was shaped by the incidents of one year, she did that well, too, because I got no sense whatsoever of her personality or what had happened to her in the last 70+ years. I found the ending pat and disappointing.
    • 2/5
      10 year old Virginia is adopted by Clem and Lorna, a couple who lives at Salt Winds, a house on the edge of the marsh. Virginia is warned from day one not to venture into the marsh, it's tides and sinkholes a constant danger. The book alternates point of view with an elderly Virginia, who is ready to die. Young Virginia find herself dodging the attentions of Max Deering, their widowed neighbor. When a German plane crashes in the Marsh, Clem ventures out to rescue the pilot. He never returns.This book was a bit difficult to read. The story did not seem to flow well. Young Virginia appeared much older than 10. At 10, she wasn't a very believable character. Old Virginia was very hard to like, which made her sections slow reading. Overall, a bust.
    • 5/5
      A gothic, atmospheric read that is a mash up of mystery, historical fiction, and coming-of-age. I enjoyed The Orphan of Salt Winds much more than I expected. The story was intriguing and it was well written. Virginia is adopted by a couple, Clem and Lorna, who live in a secluded house on the edge of the marsh. Clem and Lorna’s marriage has many secrets and tensions that Virginia doesn’t understand and their wealthy neighbor comes frequently to visit. One day, Clem goes out into the marsh to rescue an airman that starts a crime so devastating that Virginia is haunted for the rest of her life. Many years later, a girl is outside of Virginia’s house and is keeping secrets herself.
    • 4/5
      I received an ARC of this book for free from the publisher (Tin House Books) in exchange for an honest review. I give this book 3.5 stars which rounds up to 4. This was an incredibly atmospheric read. The setting, particularly the marsh, had a life of its own. The author did a fabulous job describing the setting which helped set the tone and the mood for the novel. As for the story itself, I was into it, but I wasn’t thrilled by it. I think it was because I had such high expectations going in. On the cover, the book is described as being reminiscent of Jane Eyre, which is one of my all time favorite books. It’s really tough to top that book. As I was reading the book, it was hard not to compare it to Jane Eyre. The story just didn’t move me as much as I would have liked it to. I never felt that connected to Virginia. I did like the dual storylines of Virginia when she was adopted (which was the main storyline) and Virginia as an old woman. I think the alternation between the two were really well done. The author coordinated the unfolding of events between the two perfectly. The contemporary chapter would subtly reveal something that the next historical chapter would delve into in great detail. For me, the strongest part of the book was Mr. Deering. He was a fearsome villain. I never knew what he was going to do because he was so unpredictable and creepy. It was so unsettling every time he entered Salt Winds. He’s one of the best villains I’ve encountered in literature this year. Overall, this book has a fantastic setting and villain, but the story leaves more to be desired.
    • 3/5
      Virginia arrives at Salt Winds when she is ten, adopted by Clem and Lorna. She and Clem form an immdeiate connection, her relationship with Lorna has a much slower start. Clem entertains her with both warnings and stories of the marsh. I loved the closeness between them, it added a heartwarming element to the story. The marsh also plays an integral part, it is where a strange occurrence will cause much heartache, and provide an element of mystery. There are strange things happening at Salt Winds, not only conversations she overhears, but also from a neighbor, a Mr. Derring her seems to have a strange hold over Lorna, and wanting something from Virginia that she has no intention of giving. Creepy man.Dual storylines, past and present, the past on the eve of WWIi and in the present when Virginia is in her eighties, still at Salt Winds. Her intention to at last leave is fraught with signs and the arrival of a young girl, a reminder of the past. I found the past story much more interesting and the connection with the older Virgina, for me did not work. Just didn't seem like we get to know her very well, felt this part was both rushed, and the intervening years given short shift. Although there are some Gothic elements, mostly in the atmosphere of the past story, with the marsh, and the tensions and secrets will the house, the past really didn't keep up with that tone. It seems this novel tried to be many things, we even get a fairytale, it didn't completely work. Key elements just didn't ring true, and other elements were predictable, could definitely see them coming. This was an entertaining read, but could have been much more. ARC from Edelweiss and Tin House books.