Description

A heady story about a life-changing summer romance, perfect for fans of A Theatre for Dreamers and Sorrow & Bliss

‘A love affair so richly and attentively imagined it carries the grace and gravity of memory itself.’ Leslie Jamison

Our narrator is twenty-four years old when she and her mother arrive in the tiny coastal town of Sailors Beach. Their holiday, she hopes, will be a pause between her life as a student and whatever happens next. Summer stretches before her: unplanned, full of possibility. And into this space walks Jude. Finding herself pulled to this man twenty years her senior she begins losing herself in the simple, seductive rhythms of his everyday life.

Thirteen years later, she happens across a photo of Jude with a child. A photo that leaves her questioning choices she has made for herself. A photo that brings back memories of a summer that changed her forever.

A magnetic story of the complexities of desire, and a powerful reckoning with memory, loss and longing, Madelaine Lucas’ debut novel reveals, with stunning, sensual immediacy the way the past can hold us in its thrall, shaping who we are and what we love.

‘A mesmerizing portrait of a romance with graceful, seductive writing.’ Bustle

A Bustle, LitHub, Debutiful, and NYLON Most Anticipated Book of 2023

A Goodreads Buzziest Book of the New Year * A DEBUTIFUL ‘Best Book of 2023 Jan-June’

Publisher Review

'Lush and gorgeous... A delicious read, beautifully written and emotionally satisfying.' -- New York Times 'Thirst for Salt gripped me immediately, with the tender acuity of its voice and the propulsive electricity of the relationship at its core.' -- Leslie Jamison, author of The Recovering '[A] sly, sensual debut about mothers and lovers... Lucas's writing is soft and sinuous, as sensual when she's detailing the landscape as she is about sex.' -- Sunday Telegraph 'A sensuous, visceral debut.' -- Heidi Julavits, author of The Folded Clock 'Thirst For Salt is an exquisite, magnificent gem of a book. While Madelaine Lucas's style is delicate and spare, her story is one of searing power - the story of a young woman's exploration of the fraught, often dangerous, forces of love, motherhood, art, and wilderness. Thirst For Salt is a revelation, with a quietly radical view of female desire and independence, and Lucas is a brilliant new voice - compassionate, daring, heartbreaking. It's no surprise that she is also an acclaimed musician, for this debut novel is full of verve and beauty, and it stays with you like a charged, lingering melody.' -- Rebecca Godfrey, author of The Torn Skirt 'A mesmerizing portrait of a romance with graceful, seductive writing... This novel has a sea glass quality - timeworn, beautiful, worth holding onto.' -- Bustle 'Luscious and melancholy... Sensual and electric.' -- Foreword Reviews (starred review) 'Lucas writes as if she's telling the story at a dinner party, with a lingering pace and an easy familiarity with the characters... There's a melancholy that underpins a lot of Thirst for Salt, a sense of loss, but also of missed opportunities and lives not lived. Lucas leaves her readers, quietly, in this moment of reflection, where the possibilities of past and future stretch endlessly across the horizon.' -- Guardian 'Lucas' meditation on relationships is masterful... [Her] portrayal of love and desire exerts a wonderful pull.' -- Kirkus Reviews 'Intelligent... Lucas keenly captures the relationship's slow erosion, as well as the narrator's ability to make sense of her past while looking back on it. The author's psychological acuity will keep readers piqued.' -- Publishers Weekly 'Lucas is a wonderful writer.' -- LitHub 'Captivating... This debut novel about a long-ago love affair revels in the lyrical language that describes its rugged landscape and the emotional intensity of new love.' -- Shelf Awareness 'Seductive and tender... An engrossing page-turner.' -- Debutiful 'A sensual coming-of-age novel.' -- NYLON 'I'm astounded this is a debut and was swept away with the exquisite writing.' -- Prima 'A hypnotic story of lost love and the melancholy nature of memory... A remarkable new literary voice.' -- Rebecca Starford, author of The Imitator 'Outstanding... It is, quite simply, one of the most compelling and beautifully crafted books I've ever read. Every page is brimming with raw emotion and it's so evocative, so vivid, so richly imagined that at times it feels as if you are looking back on your own story.' -- The Bookbag