We chat with debut author Rose Sutherland about A Sweet Sting of Salt, which follows a young woman who uncovers a dark secret about her neighbour and his mysterious new wife, and she’ll have to fight to keep herself—and the woman she loves—safe.
Hi, Rose! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
Hi all! I grew up in Nova Scotia, on Canada’s east coat, a voracious reader of anything I could get my hands on. At 14, I wanted desperately to be a writer, but despaired of ever being as good as the authors I loved, and ended up following other creative pursuits. I studied theatre performance in New York, appearing in a series of low-budget shows that I promise you haven’t seen while working a variety of Lousy Day Jobs(tm), then went back to school to become a pastry chef. This was more stable, but meant working a completely deranged schedule where I rarely saw other human beings, which is when I started writing again for the first time in years. I started with fan fiction, but things quickly got completely out of hand, and now, I’m an author, just like I once dreamed of…as plot twists go, it’s been the most delightful surprise of my entire life, and feels sort of like a miracle.
When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?
I come from a family of dinner-table and campfire storytellers, and was one of those kids who read early and far beyond my “appropriate age level”, so it’s hard to say exactly—I’ve been devouring stories for as long as I can remember. I first started writing for the joy of it at around twelve, when I got into reading a lot of fantasy (Mercedes Lackey’s Heralds of Valdemar series was my entire personality for a couple of years) but even before that I was writing stories for school assignments where my imagination would run away with me—I can recall one in particular, about a ghost cat (Plot twist! it was all a dream! …Or was it? Dun dun dunnnn) that gave me nightmares for about a week. I think I was in the second grade when I wrote it? Anyway, my father still brings it up from time to time as having given him the creeps, too, and possibly having been a sign of things to come.
Quick lightning round! Tell us:
- The first book you ever remember reading: Are You My Mother, by P.D. Eastman (to be fair I may have less read it than memorized it from other people reading it to me, but still!)
- The one that made you want to become an author: Birth Of The Firebringer, by Meredith Ann Pierce.
- The one that you can’t stop thinking about: Fingersmith, by Sarah Waters has me forever obsessed.
Your debut novel, A Sweet Sting of Salt, is out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Seaside sapphic yearning with selkies!
What can readers expect?
Salty’s overall vibe is a historical mix of gothic dread and cottagecore coziness, which a touch of whimsy: Expect a slow-burn romance wrapped up in a mystery, with found family, folklore, and the atmosphere of a gorgeously shot Lesbian Period Drama(tm)—but with a happy ending.
Where did the inspiration for A Sweet Sting of Salt come from?
Believe it or not, in post on Tumblr about fairytale creatures in modern settings! It presented the idea of Selkies testifying before the UN as victims of trafficking, which got me thinking about the old folktale of the selkie wife, which had really bothered me as a child. Viewing it with fresh eyes, as an adult, the deeply disturbing implications that are generally glossed over in that tale really leapt out at me. I’d been wanting to write something centering a relationship between two women, and the idea came to me like a match being struck: In less than fifteen minutes I had arrived at the character of Jean, a practical, no-nonsense midwife living next door to a fisherman and his pregnant wife, with no idea of the mystery she was about to get caught up in. Things continued to spiral rather quickly from there—I was feeling a strong pull toward home at the time, and my version of this tale was set in Nova Scotia from the very beginning.
Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
Some of my favourite moments are the ones where Muirin is really clearly flirting with Jean, and Jean is lowkey freaking out about it, convinced she’s misinterpreting signals. I also have a particular fondness for the way Jean and Laurie’s sibling dynamic developed over the course of writing the book; their conversations flowed really naturally for me. I love Laurie…he was my second favourite character to write: My real favourite was Jean’s goat, Kicker. Anytime she inserted herself into a scene, I was thrilled; she’s got such a personality.
Did you face any challenges whilst writing? How did you overcome them?
This is the first novel I’d ever finished, and I’d never done extensive revision in my life, so the learning curve was steep. I leaned hard on the advice of early beta readers and my circle of trusted critique partners a—this book might never have been finished without them, never mind readable!
On a purely practical level, I solved my biggest plot headache of this novel with pie: I’m a trained pastry chef, and I find the repetitive physical tasks involved in making baked goods from scratch free up my mind for creativity and wild intuitive leaps. The solution that had been eluding me for weeks came to me in the middle of rolling out a double batch of pie dough.
This is your debut published novel! What was the road to becoming a published author like for you?
It’s been full of surprises, and much longer than I expected: It took me about 10 months to write my first draft, and then spent over a year revising the manuscript before I began to query literary agents—which was another year-long process! Salty is a genre-blendy book, and people weren’t quite certain what to do with it, even though they had a lot of positive feedback overall, it took a while to find the right champion for it. The only fast thing was submission, when my agent send the book out to editors; it was a huge surprise for me when Salty sold quickly, after having spent so long in the query trenches. It’s been almost two years since then to get to release day; the publishing process is very much a marathon, rather than a sprint. If I could offer anyone who wants to write a single piece of advice, it would be to make friends with other writers—over and over, it’s been the friendships that I’ve found within the writing community and the guidance and support of those friends that have helped me keep my sanity and find the path forward on this journey.
What’s next for you?
I’m keeping the details close to my chest for now, but I’m working on another historical novel, this time set in provincial France in 18th century. It’s loosely based on a true story—a mystery that has never been definitively solved—and ties into a branch of French folklore that I’ve been having a lot of fun researching. I’m looking forward to hopefully being able to share more about it with readers soon!
Lastly, are there any book releases that you’re looking forward to picking up this year?
My personal TBR pile is completely out of control at this point. I’m currently reading The Cure For Drowning by Loghan Paylor,—which I just discovered shares a common thread with Salty, so I’m curious to see where it goes; so far I’m loving it! Up next is Marissa Higgins’ A Good Happy Girl, and later this year I’m looking forward to getting my hands on Masquerade by O.O. Sangoyomi, which is set in 15th century West Africa, and loosely based on the myth of Persephone.
