Author(s): Sarah Armstrong

General

An extraordinarily evocative novel of discovery, where fourteen-year-old Allie gradually realises that the picture of the past she is piecing together is different and much more complicated than she ever thought.
Allie's free-spirited mother, Mae, mysteriously disappears on Sydney Harbour one night, her dinghy found drifting in the darkness. Fourteen-year-old Allie is whisked away to the north, to a rainforested valley, by Julia, an aunt she barely knows. On the dilapidated dairy farm where Mae and Julia grew up, Allie waits for her mother to call.
As these anxious days pass, Allie learns about Mae's childhood and about Mae herself through the eyes of others. Allie watches her aunt, who is determined to return the valley to its natural order, replanting the trees of the forest that her grandfather cleared for grazing. And she watches her mother's first love who she discovers still lives in the valley. As the intoxicating heat of the wet season builds, Allie tries to decipher the truth and lies that her mother has told her, and must come to grips with the many secrets held close in the valley.
Beautifully written, Salt Rain is an extraordinary evocation of the moods of the inexorable rainforest, of families and of the secrets hidden within them.

About the Author:
Sarah Armstrong has previously worked as a reporter on ABC Radio's AM, PM and The World Today. It was for a radio feature that Sarah won a Walkley award. She was also a researcher and producer on Foreign Correspondent.
Four years ago, Sarah left the ABC and moved to a very wet rainforest valley close to Byron Bay. She now works part-time in a yoga studio at Byron Bay and continues writing.
Subject Category: FICTION