About this Event
We're hosting Katherine Vaz as she celebrates the launch of ABOVE THE SALT. Katherine will be joined in conversation by Laura Warrell!
About :
An irresistible and sweeping love story that follows two Portuguese refugees who flee religious violence and reignite their budding romance in Civil-War America.
"Vaz's work is gorgeous at every level--singing sentences and pull-you-in plot. She is the real thing, an American treasure." --Tayari Jones, New York Times bestselling author of An American Marriage
John Alves, son of a famous Presbyterian martyr on the Portuguese island of Madeira, spends his childhood in J*il and in poverty. When he meets Mary Freitas--though the adopted daughter of a master botanist, her true lineage is the subject of dangerous rumor--a spark kindles a lasting bond. But soon their families must confront the rising blood tide of warfare between Catholics and Protestants. Fleeing with only what they can carry, John and Mary are separated and arrive at different times and places in a rapidly growing and changing mid-nineteenth-century Illinois.
Years later, John settles into his life as an educator at Jacksonville's nationally renowned school for the deaf, and Mary is a gardener in Springfield for handsome, wealthy Edward Moore. After John and Mary reconnect, the home of rising politician Abraham Lincoln provides a prime setting for their courtship. But conflict looms on the horizon, and John is torn. Should he join the Union army to prove his loyalty to his new country, or should he stay to fight for the chance to make a life with the one he loves?
And should Mary accept Edward's marriage proposal since he is a partner in her business of selling the miracle-berry fruit she transported from Madeira, or should she choose her passion for John? Social jealousies and betrayals compound the obstacles unleashed by the Civil War.
In poignant and lyrical prose, Katherine Vaz's Above the Salt is a captivating and beautiful tribute to the power of true love and the sacrifices we make to harness it.
About the authors:
Katherine Vaz, a former Briggs-Copeland Fellow in Fiction at Harvard, Fellow of the Radcliffe Institute, and a National Endowment for the Arts recipient, has published the novels SAUDADE and MARIANA. The latter appeared in six languages and was selected by the Library of Congress as one of the Top Thirty International Books of 1998. In 2024, a new edition will be reissued in Portugal, where it was a bestseller and went into five editions. Film rights are optioned by Harrison Productions, with Sandy Welch attached as screenwriter.
She is the first Portuguese American to have her work recorded for the archives of the Library of Congress (Hispanic Division) and was listed by the Portuguese American Leadership Conference of the U.S. as one of the all-time most influential Lusa women.
She lives in New York City with her husband Christopher Cerf, son of Bennett Cerf, the founder of Random House. Christopher is an editor, TV producer, and former Sesame Street composer and writer.
Laura Warrell is the author of Sweet, Soft, Plenty Rhythm, a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction and the Barnes & Noble Discover Prize, and long-listed for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction. Her writing has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, Lit Hub, Los Angeles Review of Books, Huffington Post, and other publications. Laura graduated from the Creative Writing Program at the Vermont College of Fine Arts and she has attended residencies at the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference and the Tin House Writer’s Workshop. She lives in Los Angeles and teaches at the low-residency MFA program at Pacific University.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
1113 Montana Ave, 1113 Montana Avenue, Santa Monica, United States
USD 0.00
