The Salt Road

Description

My dear Isabelle, in the attic you will find a box with your name on it. Isabelle's archaeologist father dies leaving a puzzle: a mysterious African amulet. But what is it? And why did he want her to have it? On impulse she takes a plane to Morocco to find out. But has Isabelle's curiosity got the better of her? Almost killed in an accident which damages the amulet (revealing more of its secrets), she realises she must be careful. But when her rescuer, Taib, who knows the dunes and their peoples, offers to help uncover the amulet's history, she cannot resist uncovering the story of Tin Hanan - She of the Tents - who made a legendary desert crossing alone, and her descendant Mariata. Across years and over hot, shifting sands, tracking the Salt Road, the stories of Isabelle and Taib, Mariata and her lover, become entangled with that of the lost amulet. It is a tale of souls wounded by history and of love blossoming on barren ground.

Jane Johnson is a British novelist and publisher. Her novels include The Sea Gate, Court of Lions, The Tenth Gift and The Sultan's Wife. She is the UK editor for George R.R. Martin, Robin Hobb and Dean Koontz and was for many years publisher of the works of J.R.R. Tolkien. Married to a Berber chef she met while researching The Tenth Gift, she lives in Cornwall and Morocco.

An exhilarating ride. Part historic and part contemporary, with universal themes of betrayal, love, and the anguish caused by human greed * Globe and Mail * A magical Moroccan adventure... Unputdownable' * She * An exotic page-turner that links the fates of two women * Woman and Home *