Women of Salt

Not even the best mothers in the world can always save their daughters.

In present-day Miami, Jeanette struggles with addiction. The daughter of Carmen, a Cuban immigrant, she is determined to learn more about her family's history and makes the reckless decision to take in the daughter of a neighbor taken by the Immigration Department. Carmen, still struggling with the trauma of migration, has to process the difficult relationship she has with her own mother while trying to raise a rebellious Jeanette. Steadfast in her search for answers, Jeanette travels to Cuba to find her grandmother and uncover the secrets of the past.

From the 19th-century tobacco factories to modern-day detention centers, from Cuba to Mexico, Gabriela Garcia's Women of Salt is a kaleidoscope of betrayals—personal and political, self-imposed and inflicted by others—that shaped the lives of these extraordinary women. A haunting reflection on the choices of mothers, the legacy of the memories they carry, and the tenacity of the women who choose to tell their stories despite attempts to silence them. This is more than a book about diaspora; it is the story of America's most tangled and honest human roots.