Fiction Book Club - Our Cut of Salt
About This Event
To join book club, we ask that you purchase the book from us or make a comparable donation/purchase.
THIS BOOK CLUB MEETS IN PERSON AT THE SHOP. Thursday, October 29th 6:30pm
Join us for the next Fiction Book Club meetup where we'll discuss Our Cut of Salt by Deena Helm.
In this lyrical debut, three generations of Palestinian women must put the haunting of their ancestral home to rest, before the secrets of the past drown them all. Our Cut of Salt is a powerful and intimate look at what it means to make a home, to lose it, and to return, only to find it irrevocably changed.
"A one-of-a-kind haunted house." -- Paul Tremblay, New York Times bestselling author
There is something haunting Nuhad's childhood home in Haifa. Cats avoid its perimeter, strange noises come from within, and residents have mysteriously vanished without a trace. Although Nuhad has not returned to her home since the Nakba in 1948, she always held a place for the house in her heart.
And, in return, the house did the same for her.
After Nuhad passes away, her granddaughter, Marina, is determined to visit her grandmother's home after a lifetime of being kept in the dark about her culture and family history. Marina's mother, Haifa - named for the city that was lost to their family - reluctantly agrees to her trip, though she knows firsthand that some secrets are better left buried.
But the house is no longer a home. It is a painful, festering wound that infects everything it touches. The more Marina digs into her family's past, the sicker she becomes. Despite Nuhad's ghostly warnings, Haifa rushes to help her daughter.
As the three women converge in their ancestral home, they must put the haunting to rest before the secrets of the past drown them all.
About the Venue
A Novel Idea on Passyunk
A Novel Idea on Passyunk is a queer, disabled, woman-owned independent bookstore and event space in South Philadelphia. Since opening in December 2018, we've hosted over 1,200 events, with the majority of them being free or suggested donation.
Visit store pageMore at A Novel Idea on Passyunk
Halloween Children's Story Time
Story time is back at A Novel Idea! Join us for a Halloween-themed evening story time on Wednesday, October 21st at 6pm. Designed with working parents in mind. All ages welcome. Suggested $5 Donation.
Communicating with Spirits: Writing Ghost Stories
We all have ghosts; memories, moments, and sometimes literal spirits that haunt us. How do we access these shadows and explore them? How do we communicate with the things that scare us? How do we write new stories for the spooky season canon? This fall, join writer and bookstore owner Christina Rosso-Schneider for a two-hour writing workshop all about ghosts. We'll look at selections of stories about specters and spirits before starting to write our own ghost stories! This workshop is open to fiction, poetry, and nonfiction writers. All experiences and perspectives welcome. Thursday, October 22nd 6-8pm at A Novel Idea Investment $65 (processing fees applied at checkout) About the Instructor Christina Rosso-Schneider (she/they) is a queer, disabled writer and bookstore owner based outside Philadelphia with her bearded husband and rescue pups. She is the author of CREOLE CONJURE and SHE IS A BEAST. Her debut novel, THE LAST SHEAF, is forthcoming from Blackstone Publishing. She is the co-owner of A Novel Idea on Passyunk, an independent bookstore and event space, named one of the best bookstores in the region by The Philadelphia Inquirer. When she isn’t writing, working at the bookstore, or recording her podcast Hello, Sister, she reads tarot and casts spells under the full moon. Learn more at christina-rosso.com.