Joanne Harris

"When you can find me an acre of land, Every sage grows merry in time, Between the ocean and the sand Then will you be united again.(Inspired by The Child Ballads 2 & 19) ... So begins a beautiful and tragic quest as a heartbroken mother sets out to save her lost daughter, through the realms of the real, of dream, and even into the underworld itself. But determination alone is not enough. For to save something precious, she must give up something...

An earthly nourris sits and sings; And aye she sings, "Ba lilly wean, Little ken I my bairn's father, Far less the land that he staps in. (Child Ballad, no. 113). So begins a stunning tale of love, loss and revenge, against a powerful backdrop of adventure on the high seas, and drama on the land. The Blue Salt Road balances passion and loss, love and violence and draws on nature and folklore to weave a stunning modern mythology around a nameless,...