Salt Blue

It is the reds, more than any other color, that vibrate: cochineal, verbena, magenta, carmine, fuchsia, flaunting crocosmia, Chinese lacquer red, Marilyn Monroe lipstick red, and all the geranium combinations that lead to the deep red oxblood, the same shade as Stella's front doorstep. Twenty-year-old Stella keeps her sumptuously colored knitting wools stockpiled in her Victorian grandfather's disused shop. They're the only shafts of light illuminating a quietly conservative life—apart from a few starlit moments with her tentative first love. Diagnosed as in need of a major life change by a glamorous friend newly back from "the Continent," and funded by an unexpected windfall, the opportunity to escape is irresistible. Flying PanAm to New York in search of her dreams, Stella is knocked off course by a chance meeting with a generous stranger, and with distance comes a new confidence and challenging insights. A colorful debut novel of tangible sensual pleasures, Salt Blue paints a striking picture of life in the 1950s.