Overview

On her son's first birthday, Betsy Cornwell fled her home, checking into a hotel under a false name so her husband couldn't find them. In the uncertain months that followed, her fierce determination to give her child what she never had - a safe and stable home - saved them. In Ring of Salt, Betsy traces her journey from that desperate moment to Ireland's windswept west coast, where the Atlantic Ocean crashes against ancient cliffs. There, nestled beside a quiet lake in the wilds of Connemara, she discovers a long-abandoned knitting factory - forgotten, but full of possibility. She sets out to restore it into a sanctuary for herself and her son - and, eventually, a creative refuge for single mothers. As she renovates the crumbling house and fights to keep custody of her son, Betsy begins to rebuild something more: a sense of belonging. In the cool mists of the countryside, and with the help of fellow survivors and an unexpected community, she pieces together a new kind of family. Mixing Maid's gripping portrait of single motherhood with Wintering's wild, romantic sense of place, this is a powerful memoir of survival, new beginnings, and the quiet, everyday magic of finding home on one of the world's most storied and soul-stirring coastlines.

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9781408748978

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Reviews

A stunning memoir, intimate and vast at once. Ring of Salt is a story of human interactions - nurturing, sexual, supportive and destructive, which Cornwell captures in all their complexity, intensity and inconsistency. What I love is her refusal to simplify or polarise her experience. Instead, she wrangles with the messiness of human connection, of the twin pull of an abusive relationship, the exhilaration and exhaustion of parenting, the power and abjection of motherhood. Braver still, is her insistence on looking, face-on, at our material reliance, debunking the myth of the American Dream to remind us of our dependency on one another, our interconnectedness. This is a very special book * Elske Rahill, author of Between Dog and Wolf * A powerful and deeply empowering book, Ring of Salt is a hymn to the strength of community, a rallying cry against systemic injustice, and a testimony to the resilience of one woman's spirit. Beautifully written, this is an immersive exploration into the joy of finding home in unconventional places * Roisín O’Donnell, author of Nesting * Ring of Salt is the best memoir I've read in years. Think 'Practical Magic' set on the Irish coast. As transportive as a fairytale, but as real as the Connemara wind on your face, every page pulses with the wild spirit of Ireland. This memoir is for anyone ready to believe in the power of resilience, reinvention, and the communities that catch us when we fall * Marian Schembari, author of A Little Less Broken *

A stunning memoir, intimate and vast at once. Ring of Salt is a story of human interactions - nurturing, sexual, supportive and destructive, which Cornwell captures in all their complexity, intensity and inconsistency. What I love is her refusal to simplify or polarise her experience. Instead, she wrangles with the messiness of human connection, of the twin pull of an abusive relationship, the exhilaration and exhaustion of parenting, the power and abjection of motherhood. Braver still, is her insistence on looking, face-on, at our material reliance, debunking the myth of the American Dream to remind us of our dependency on one another, our interconnectedness. This is a very special book * Elske Rahill, author of Between Dog and Wolf * A powerful and deeply empowering book, Ring of Salt is a hymn to the strength of community, a rallying cry against systemic injustice, and a testimony to the resilience of one woman's spirit. Beautifully written, this is an immersive exploration into the joy of finding home in unconventional places * Roisín O’Donnell, author of Nesting * Ring of Salt is the best memoir I've read in years. Think 'Practical Magic' set on the Irish coast. As transportive as a fairytale, but as real as the Connemara wind on your face, every page pulses with the wild spirit of Ireland. This memoir is for anyone ready to believe in the power of resilience, reinvention, and the communities that catch us when we fall * Marian Schembari, author of A Little Less Broken * Betsy Cornwell's Ring of Salt is the story of hard-earned triumph for a single mother who forges a path through childhood abuse, domestic violence, penury, and isolation to an abundant life on the wild coast of Ireland. Readers will cheer for Cornwell as she weaves together a community - both near and far - that rallies around her as she leaves the dark chapters of her past behind her. Invoking fairy tales and Irish mythology, Cornwell enriches our definitions of survivorship and shows us how she found ordinary magic in everyday life. Best of all, Cornwell's story of resilience and hope is beautifully written; each sentence shimmers like the incandescent Irish coastline. * Christie Tate, author of Group * A truly beautifully written, heart wrenching memoir that brings the power of community, and the power of women, to every page. This is a survivor's story, but it's also a fairytale, one of darkness and light that has the happiest of endings - an ending that, like the circle of life that Betsy Cornwell brings so viscerally to the page, is just the beginning. Betsy takes you with her on an incredible journey from the cloying damp of an isolated cottage, chill with her fear, to the warmth and sweetness of sun-ripened wild strawberries and stunning sunsets, her child in her arms every step of the way. Emotional, spellbinding, inspirational, Ring of Salt is a tour-de-force of a book. * Sam Blake, author of The Killing Sense * A searingly painful yet stunning and hopeful piece of work. I am in awe of Cornwell's determination and courage and her ability to draw meaning from the darkest times. She has created a profound and beautiful piece of art from these experiences * Sophie White, Shirley Jackson Award-winning author of Where I End * Clear-eyed, open-hearted, and brimming with hope, Betsy Cornwell's Ring of Salt is a beautifully told memoir. As an artist, an ex-pat fleeing family violence, and an immigrant searching for a home in the world, she writes with urgency and candour, pulling readers along on her wild rollercoaster into love and heartbreak and out again. Readers will root for her as she makes a new home ""in the hearts of others"", always with gratitude for the life-saving community she's knitting around herself out of goodwill. There are echoes here of ancient creation myths, of the timeless need for harmony with the natural world, and Lyons' deep kinship with all the women, past and present, who have muscled a better life into existence for their children * Anonymous, author of Becoming Duchess Goldblatt * When I grow up, I want to write like Betsy Cornwell! She's poetic and gritty and funny and heartbreaking... often in the same paragraph. Ring of Salt captures what it's like to rebuild from the ruins, to mother while mourning, and to find a safe home inside yourself when the world hasn't offered one. Cornwell doesn't mistake escape for freedom, and she writes beautifully about what comes after survival - the long, brave, often invisible work of building a new life. It's honest, lyrical, and quietly revolutionary * Lara Love Hardin, New York Times bestselling author of The Many Lives of Mama Love *

Author Information

Betsy Cornwell is a New York Times bestselling author, writing teacher, private mentor, and retreat leader. She holds an MFA in creative writing from the University of Notre Dame and a BA from Smith College, and she currently teaches writing at the University of Galway, Kylemore Abbey, and online. She lives in a historic knitting factory on the west coast of Ireland, which she is working to turn into a funded, childcare-inclusive arts retreat space for single mothers and other twice-marginalised single parents.

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