Gabriela Garcia

Of Women and Salt is a sweeping, masterful debut about a daughter’s fateful choice, a mother motivated by her own past, and a family legacy that begins in Cuba before either of them was born. From 19th-century cigar factories to present-day detention centers, from Cuba to Mexico, the novel follows Latina women of fierce pride and longing, all irrevocably linked by the inheritance of trauma and the stories passed between them. It is a haunting meditation on the choices of mothers and the tenacity of women who choose to tell their stories despite those who wish to silence them.

Garcia is the daughter of immigrants from Cuba and Mexico and grew up in Miami. She holds a BA in Sociology and Media Studies from Fordham University and worked as a feminist and migrant rights organizer for 10 years before pursuing an MFA in fiction from Purdue University. Garcia is the recipient of a Rona Jaffe Foundation Writer’s Award and a Steinbeck Fellowship from San Jose State University. Her fiction and poems have been featured in Best American Poetry, Tin House, Zyzzyva, Iowa Review and elsewhere. Garcia lives in the San Francisco Bay area. 

“Garcia’s novel is a…stunningly accomplished first novel that is both epic and intimate.” —O Magazine.  “This riveting account will please readers of sweeping multigenerational stories.” —Publishers Weekly. “The novel is quietly heartbreaking.” —Booklist (starred review).