The Ring of Salt: A Memoir of Finding Home and Hope on the Wild Coast of Ireland

Summary

“Extraordinarily moving, exquisitely written, and socially revolutionary.” —The Irish Times

“Ring of Salt is so vast and tender and urgent, it’s almost like reading a novel. I couldn’t put it down. I haven’t cheered for a heroine like Betsy in ages.” —Jen Hatmaker, author of Awake

For readers of Maggie Smith and Stephanie Land, an inspiring and lyrical memoir about a writer and mother who flees an abusive marriage and must learn to reclaim the story of her life through a search for home on Ireland’s wild, western coast.

At twenty-four, Betsy Cornwell flees a painful past in the US to chase a fresh start in Ireland. Landing on the misty shores of the Aran Islands, she can’t believe her luck when a whirlwind romance with a charming horse trainer leads to an elopement. But five years later, her happy ending has twisted beyond recognition: Trapped in an abusive marriage with a one-year-old baby, Betsy makes a desperate escape with her son, checking into a hotel under a false name so her husband can’t track them down.

Over the difficult years that follow, Betsy struggles to scrape together enough money for rent, often having to rely on the unexpected generosity of networks of women—friends, fellow survivors, and even an online alumnae group—to stay afloat. So when she discovers a long-abandoned knitting factory nestled by a quiet lake along the Connemara coast, she pieces together a seemingly impossible dream: She will restore the forgotten building into the safe, stable home for her son that she never had—and eventually, into a sanctuary for other single parents and their children, too.

Buoyed by her new community through a terrifying battle over the custody of her son, Betsy holds fast to her vision. As she lovingly (and sometimes disastrously) repairs the crumbling house, she must confront the remains of the broken fairy tales she was raised on, the ones that every woman knows by heart—about what love and family and monsters are supposed to look like—and rebuild herself and her future, brick by brick.