Sal

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Pub Date 8 May 2018 | Archive Date 28 Jun 2018
Canongate Books US | Canongate Books

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Description

This is a story of something like survival.

Sal planned it for almost a year before they ran. She nicked an Ordnance Survey map from the school library. She bought a compass, a Bear Grylls knife, waterproofs and a first aid kit from Amazon using credit cards she'd robbed. She read the SAS Survival Handbook and watched loads of YouTube videos.

And now Sal knows a lot of stuff. Like how to build a shelter and start a fire. How to estimate distances, snare rabbits and shoot an airgun. And how to protect her sister, Peppa. Because Peppa is ten, which is how old Sal was when Robert started on her.

Told in Sal's distinctive voice, and filled with the silent, dizzying beauty of rural Scotland, Sal is a disturbing, uplifting story of survival, of the kindness of strangers, and the irrepressible power of sisterly love; a love that can lead us to do extraordinary and unimaginable things.

This is a story of something like survival.

Sal planned it for almost a year before they ran. She nicked an Ordnance Survey map from the school library. She bought a compass, a Bear Grylls knife...


Advance Praise

“This debut novel is about the hot topic of female empowerment (even if written by a man) should be enough to attract attention; readers, once hooked, will be captivated by Sal's resolution, ingenuity, singular voice, and infinite capacity for wonder in the face of appalling circumstances.”—Library Journal starred

“There’s an edgy charm and an innocence to this story of two youngsters who escape into the woods.”—Rebecca Foster, Foreword Reviews

“Readers who enjoyed My Absolute Darling by Gabriel Tallent should love this novel of the resourceful, 13-year-old Sal, who escapes an abusive home in Scotland with her ten-year-old sister Peppa to live in the wilderness, armed with knowledge gleaned from YouTube survival videos. Author Mick Kitson gives narrator Sal an endearing, unique voice.”—B&N Review

“Just wonderful. A breath of fresh air in a book. Sal is a story with incredible heart, told so beautifully and with such clarity and grace I can hardly believe it's a debut! I loved it.”—JOANNA CANNON, bestselling author of THE TROUBLE WITH GOATS AND SHEEP

“This debut novel is about the hot topic of female empowerment (even if written by a man) should be enough to attract attention; readers, once hooked, will be captivated by Sal's resolution...


Available Editions

EDITION Other Format
ISBN 9781786891877
PRICE US$22.00 (USD)
PAGES 240

Average rating from 34 members


Featured Reviews

In true survivor fiction fashion, this book takes the cake for good descriptive language and wonderfully thought out plot lines. We follow the story of Sal, a young woman who takes the initiative to get herself and her younger sister out of an unsavory situation at their home. She learns to survive and create a shelter for herself and peppa, her sister. The characters are well thought out and the storyline very well put together. If you enjoyed Hatchet as a child, this book will put you in the same frame of mind.

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The story of Sal's escape from an abusive home life into the wilds of Scotland is vividly told in this beautiful and touching novel.

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Once I started Sal I didn't want to put it down. Sal is not a person to be messed with but someone I would want on my side. I always love a book that teaches me something new along the way.

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Sal is the story of two sisters who run away from a painful and abusive home. The older sister Sal has meticulously prepared for the adventure by learning about survival off the internet and in books. This is where the text really takes off. The character of Sal is a well-written and believable portrait of a young person on the spectrum.
The sisters escape to the Scottish wilderness to let the news of their running away blow over; they want to eventually go back to help their mother. In the meantime, they work together to find food, build shelter, and protect each other from the painful memories they share.
This is a quick read, but the topics and characters stay with you. I would recommend this to young adults and readers who are looking for a narrator who teaches you new ways of looking at the world.

Thank you to Canongate Books, NetGalley, and the author for the advanced copy to review.

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It's taken me a while to write this review as I wanted to do the book justice. I absolutely adored Sal, and I've already called it as my book of the year. Sal and Peppa's vivacity and ferocious will to survive scream off the page, and the humour and compassion in the book will leave many readers breathless I'm sure. I cannot recommend this book enough, I'm sure I will be re-reading it soon.

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I went into this book expecting I will definitely love it. A few pages in and I started to find it rather slow and boring and decided to give it a go until at least half of the book, and I'm glad I did because I did end up enjoyed it.
This is a story about two young girls who runaway and go on an "adventure" and start taking care of themselves due to an abusive situation at home. The eldest daughter Sal starts to learn everything she can to survive in the forest. From how to light a fire to hunting to the essential medication needed if someone would get an infection. Stories like these tend to always have male characters taking the lead role, and if a little sister is included then she's just the side kick who tags along. But this book shows you how a thirteen-year-old was willing to create an intricate plan and risk everything to get out of the abuse that was going on just so no one would touch a strand of hair from her little sister. There's so much about this story that was great but there's also a few instances where I felt that something was off but wasn't able to put my hand on it.

I do have to mention that the first few pages that I found rather slow and boring could be attributed to the language or how it was written. There seemed to be too much details at the start when I haven't yet connected with any of the characters or the story and I felt that the pace was too slow and my eyes were scanning the words too fast. I was eager to know what happens next. But once I got hooked, once I reached a point where I found a steady rhythm with the pace and the language and was connected with the characters, I actually found myself eager to know all the detail that was going on. I wanted to know how she learned everything she learned, I wanted to know what happened at home, what she did to reduce period pains in the forest, how she found prey and how she skinned them. Suddenly all the small details started to feel relevant and important to the story. But I do still feel that maybe a few paragraphs here or there could have been omitted or for the pace to be quicker.

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This novel really had me from the beginning. The characters were very relatable and the story was really impactful to me personally. This is a story that indicates what is happening to many women around the world and I liked how Kitson attacks a problem that is so relevant to our society today. Also, I liked that Kitson also included the problem of alcoholism into the novel and how drinking can affect the lives of others around that person. While reading this, Kitson provided me with some clarity about the problem that many people go through with drinking. It is a real problem and it should be taken care off because many children are the ones that have to deal with their parents drinking all of the time and that causes these children to live a life that is horrible. All I’m trying to say is that, when a child grows up with a parent or a guardian that has an alcohol problem that causes that child to not really experience childhood at all, making them experience adulthood at such a low age and that is not good.
I really liked the story of Sal and how strong and brave she was. She really set an example to people around the world to really stand up to those around you who are making your life a living hell and I liked what she did so her life could change into something meaningful. For me Sal became the real definition of what Sal means in Spanish. I made a really strong connection to her and that is all thanks to Kitson’s way of writing. The writing in this novel was exceptional and I applaud Kitson because he made me go through many different emotions with this story. Therefore, I love this story and I can’t wait to read more Kitson novels in the future.
All in all, Sal by Mick Kitson, is a story that is powerful, incredibly emotional, a breath of fresh air, and very moving. I believe that all its readers are going to like this story a lot because it is intense and it is a page turner all the way.

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I wish this book were being released now so that I could immediately recommend it to everyone. The story of Sal and her younger sister Peppa has all the feels. There is so much love, tenacity, grit, danger, trust, fear, hate and forgiveness wrapped up in a book-sized package. The characters are incredibly well-developed and the story itself is cleverly plotted. Highly recommend.

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Powerful story. It's so scary to think of two kids out on their own, but I guess too many children that young are on their own in the world. sad. Sal and Peppa have a really rough home life. Their mom's a drunk and drug addict and her live-in boyfriend molests Sal and is threatening to molest Peppa. so Sal plots for the two girls to run away and learns all about survival and living off the land to protect her. It's a little rough to read with the slang (Scots) and language, but can be managed. I think teens and up will appreciate the story.

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When I finished this book last night, having read it in one day, I had no idea how to rate it and I really didn’t know what to say about it. I woke up thinking about these characters which for me personally is a sign that I have read something profound or at the very least thought provoking. This was an easy read from the language perspective, the matter of fact words of a thirteen year old girl, but it was at the same time disturbing, heartbreaking, and beautiful in the rendering of the love between two sisters.

Sal has been in survival mode for the last three years, enduring what no child ever should. If she tells anyone what’s happening, there’s a good chance that she and her ten year old sister Peppa will be separated. Her alcoholic mother is passed out often enough to be oblivious to what her alcoholic, drug addicted boyfriend is doing. But then survival mode takes on a much more literal meaning as Sal takes justice into her own hands and they run away to a forest somewhere in Scotland. Sal is on a mission to save Peppa from the same things she was forced to endure. I had that hard to describe feeling, a knot in my stomach from the beginning as Sal talks about how she sets aside her worrying time so she can focus on the survival skills she has learned on YouTube and the famous survival manual - building a fire, shooting an air gun, making rabbit snares, managing the basics of food and shelter in the woods and most of all caring for Peppa. I can’t say I liked reading about their time in the wild . I’m not much of a camper at all so I found none of the details interesting but I was so affected by these sisters. The seriousness of Sal was balanced by the bit of comic relief that Peppa provides with her desire to laugh, her off color language, surprising to come from a ten year old but she stole my heart as did Sal who cares for her.

Another character, Ingrid, a retired doctor who lives a secluded life in the woods befriends the girls, helps care for them and I thought played a role in getting them to move forward to a place where there could be a possibility for a different life. The ending was not what I expected given all that happened, but I finished the book hoping for the best for Sal and Peppa. It’s sad and thought provoking and impacted me enough to up my initial rating to 4 stars.

I received an advanced copy of this book from Canongate through NetGalley.

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I absolute loved this. I really couldn't put it down, and I thought all of the characters were so original and complex and realistic. The descriptions of their survival in the wilderness were so interesting and the fierce love that Sal had for her little sister was so sweet. I thought the narrative style was spot-on and overall I just really enjoyed it.

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A beautiful book despite its tough subject matter. The sisters, Sal and Peppa, are adorable and charming. Sal, the oldest, has been taking care of her younger sisters for years as her mom drinks the days away. Her mother's boyfriend uses the mother's addiction to his advantage and sexual assaults Sal numerous times. Despite this Sal is tough and getting prepared cause the boyfriend has made it known Peppa is next. With Sal resourcefulness the girls will flee to the woods and start a life of self-sufficiency.

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Sal has decided to take matters into her own hands. She's planned everything meticulously, and gathered knowledge and equipment over many months. Then she killed her mother's abusive boyfriend and ran away to the woods with her sister.

Determined not to let anything split them up, Sal deploys remarkable survival skills and a resourcefulness that belies her tender years to start a new life with Peppa in the rugged landscape of Scotland's Galloway Forest Park. She's learned all about building a shelter, starting a fire, hunting, fishing and countless other things from YouTube videos and her trusty SAS Survival Handbook. Now the girls just need to bide their time while their alcoholic mother goes through rehab, then they'll fetch her and all live together in this silent wilderness.

But before they can carry out their scheme, they meet their "neighbour" Ingrid, a reclusive immunologist who lives in a rustic camp a few miles away and must deal with wounds of her own. She teaches them about baking bread in a stone oven, making bowls out of birch bark, communing with the Goddess and the importance of forgiveness. This encounter will have a profound effect on all their lives.

Switching between present circumstances and past events, Sal tells us her story in a very matter-of-fact way. She's extremely bright, despite being placed in a vulnerable learners programme at school owing to her severe dyslexia and unsatisfactory social skills, so it's fascinating to see "from the inside" how she deals with hurdles that would defeat many so-called well-adjusted adults. The subtlety with which nature as a source of healing was treated is another highlight.

Since I've always enjoyed fiction where people must cope with fulfilling their essential needs in strained circumstances, "Sal" was right up my trail, as it were. In that regard, if I may offer a vegan's perspective on the measures Sal must take in order to feed herself and Peppa, I appreciate that the author didn't shy away from the realities of taking an animal's life, but also didn't try to ennoble the act, for example by having Sal thank the animal for its sacrifice or "honouring its spirit" in some way.

I found this novel extremely compelling and moving. All of the characters felt completely believable, and I thought it offered an excellent portrayal of girls' and women's strength. I couldn't recommend this book highly enough!

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