The Salt Eaters

The tale of a woman transformed by a Black healing community in 1970s America, publishing for the first time in Penguin Modern Classics

The American Deep South, in the 1970s. Velma Henry, once a formidable political activist, has grown weary and disillusioned with the fight for civil rights. She wants to end it all. But then she finds herself in the hands of a Black faith community, and the fabled healer Minnie Ransom.

As she works through the rage and fear of her traumatic past, Velma finds herself changing, becoming whole and, maybe, free. The Salt Eaters is a boldly optimistic, profound exploration of memory, the self, power and Black health as liberation.

'A book full of marvels' — New Yorker

'A hymn to individual courage' — The Times Literary Supplement

'Her characters inhabit the nonlinear, sacred space and sacred time of traditional African religion' — The New York Times Book Review

ISBN: 9780241521380 | Published: 5 January 2022 (first published 1980) | Paperback | 256 pages