{"product_id":"the-salt-king","title":"The Salt King","description":"\n\u003ctable align=\"center\" border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"2\" cellspacing=\"0\" width=\"100%\"\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd class=\"productDetailSmallElements\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Quotes\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eThe Salt King\u003c\/i\u003e is a multi-genre marvel, a concoction that's equal parts adventure tale, tender-hearted romance, and apocalyptic vision. With enviable dexterity Pulley mixes religion, science, and magic, never letting up the tension as her story sweeps us around the globe. But it's her characters who truly bring the book to life, their voices droll and earnest, melancholy and hilarious. I guarantee you'll be thinking about this book long after you turn the final page!\" --\u003ci\u003eHelene Wecker, New York Times bestselling author of The Golem and the Jinni Trilogy\u003c\/i\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Pulley cleverly reckons with thorny questions of truth versus belief, faith versus institutions, and whether it's better to navigate the unimaginable alone or with a companion whose very presence you doubt . . . Though the novel deals in prophecy and cataclysm, it champions free will down to its very last moments. Gripping and heartfelt, this prismatic novel is more than worth its salt.\" -- \n\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews, starred review\u003c\/i\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"In its scale and its eagerness to grapple with foundational questions about God and belief, \n\u003ci\u003e The Salt King\u003c\/i\u003e might be her most intricate and epic work yet.\" -- \n\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Pulley has created a sprawling, slow-burn, and fantastical apocalyptic tale.\" -- \n\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"This garden path of a novel shifts back and forth seamlessly from fantasy-mystery to subtle romance to a reflection on how frameworks shape reality, without dropping tension . . . A compelling religious alternate-history mystery about isolation, spectrums of religious and romantic love, and beliefs defining and dividing community.\" -- \n\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/i\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Pulley brings out her favorite elements-palace intrigue, gallant lovers, masks, transformations, ambiguity, automata-and twists them into mesmerizing patterns . . . This love story is witty, bittersweet, surprising, and compellingly readable.\" -- \n\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews, starred review on THE HYMN TO DIONYSUS\u003c\/i\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"A queer love story wrapped up in questions about the end of empire and the need for revelry-quite fitting for 2025.\" -- \n\u003ci\u003eTown \u0026amp; Country on THE HYMN TO DIONYSUS\u003c\/i\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Delightful . . . moves as nimbly as its ballet-dancer hero . . . pivoting toward something that's both nuanced and fresh. The result is both an epic love story and a deft political thriller.\" -- \n\u003ci\u003eThe Washington Post on THE MARS HOUSE\u003c\/i\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"Beautiful, surreal imagery appears throughout the novel, too . . . Clear a weekend if you can, and let yourself be absorbed.\" -- \n\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times Book Review on THE KINGDOMS\u003c\/i\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eBiographical Note\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eNatasha Pulley\u003c\/b\u003e is the internationally bestselling author of seven books, including \n\u003ci\u003eThe Watchmaker of Filigree Street\u003c\/i\u003e, \n\u003ci\u003eThe Mars House\u003c\/i\u003e, and \n\u003ci\u003eThe Hymn to Dionysus\u003c\/i\u003e. She has won a Betty Trask Award and been shortlisted for the Authors' Club Best First Novel Award and the Royal Society of Literature's Encore Award and longlisted for the Walter Scott Prize.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublisher Marketing\u003c\/strong\u003e:\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAn apocalyptic novel about belief, religion, and the power of myth that blends the gripping, end-of-the-world storytelling of \u003ci\u003eThe Passage\u003c\/i\u003e with the biting wit and epic queer romance that makes Natasha Pulley's books \"delightful\" (\u003ci\u003eThe Washington Post\u003c\/i\u003e).\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eJesuit priest Avelyn Brocken was born into a mining family in Hreodwater, a small, totally isolated salt town in the Fens of England. At age 16, he fled, abandoning his faith in the god of the mine-the Salt King-and the mythology that killed his whole family. \n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWhen a fellow priest is miraculously healed only to then be turned to salt after a visit to Hreodwater, Avelyn is sent by the Vatican to investigate. But in Hreodwater, the town's gentle doctor, Jericho, tells him that the priest is not the only one experiencing strange cures-and may not be the only one in danger from a substance in the mine that the locals call \"salt light.\" \n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAvelyn and Jericho team up to protect the world from the salt light-but they may already be too late: strange happenings are occurring at mines all around the world. At an archaeological dig on the Dead Sea, electrical devices froth salt; at another salt mine in Russia, a KGB officer finds the bodies of five tourists who seem to have turned to salt; and at the huge salt works at Wieliczska in Poland, all communication is lost, and rumors circulate of total annihilation. \n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAs salt light spreads, devastating cities around the world, Avelyn must decide what and who to believe-and whether his faith is strong enough to withstand an apocalypse. \n\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eReview Citations:\u003c\/strong\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"italic\"\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/span\u003e 05\/01\/2026 pg. 106 (EAN 9781639737291, Hardcover)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"italic\"\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/span\u003e 06\/01\/2026 (EAN 9781639737291, Hardcover) - *Starred Review\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"italic\"\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/span\u003e 06\/08\/2026 (EAN 9781639737291, Hardcover)\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\n\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eContributor Bio:\u003c\/strong\u003ePulley, Natasha\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eNatasha Pulley\u003c\/b\u003e is the internationally bestselling author of \n\u003ci\u003eThe Watchmaker of Filigree Street, The Bedlam Stacks, The Lost Future of Pepperharrow, The Kingdoms, \u003c\/i\u003eand \n\u003ci\u003eThe Half Life of Valery K. \u003c\/i\u003eShe has won a Betty Trask Award, been shortlisted for the Authors' Club Best First Novel Award, the Royal Society of Literature's Encore Award, and the Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize, and longlisted for the Walter Scott Prize. She lives in Bristol, England.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003c\/table\u003e\n","brand":"Bloomsbury Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51496207745302,"sku":"9781639737291","price":35.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0857\/9910\/8886\/files\/9781639737291.jpg?v=1783057567","url":"https:\/\/lusper.myshopify.com\/products\/the-salt-king","provider":"Lusperbooks","version":"1.0","type":"link"}