The Orphan of Salt Winds

For many Seattleites, Snowpocalypse 2019 was an enforced staycation requiring the flip side of a “beach read.” And by pure luck (and Haley’s recommendation) I had a copy of The Orphan of Salt Winds on hand when the first flakes started to fall. Its isolated manor house perched on the edge of a menacing marshland was the perfect setting for waiting out the blizzard, and its double-stranded story—told in alternating chapters by 86-year-old Virginia Wrathmell and her preteen self—wove together enough well-placed clues to keep me guessing, and then revising my guesses, until her whole tragic story was revealed and the snow started to melt. Also, its 1940’s-era details and cinematic imagery gave me the sense that it would have made a smokily glamorous black-and-white film. You just might want to stow a copy next to the flashlight and bottled water in case of another storm.