We Were the Salt of the Sea

When the body of a woman is discovered in a fisherman’s net in Quebec’s Gaspé Peninsula, new recruit Detective Sergeant Joaquin Moralès is thrown in at the deep end… First in a beautifully written, atmospheric and addictive new series.

***Runner-up for the Scott Moncrieff Prize for Translations from French***

‘Wonderfully atmospheric … I genuinely couldn’t put this book down’ Gill Paul

'You might want to grab this release if you've read everything by Louise Penny and need more Quebecois noir to feed your crime-loving tendencies’ Crime Fiction Lover

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Truth lingers in murky waters…

As Montrealer Catherine Day sets foot in a remote fishing village and starts asking around about her birth mother, the body of a woman dredges up in a fisherman’s nets. Not just any woman, though: Marie Garant, an elusive, nomadic sailor and unbridled beauty who once tied many a man’s heart in knots. Detective Sergeant Joaquin Moralès, newly drafted to the area from the suburbs of Montreal, barely has time to unpack his suitcase before he’s thrown into the deep end of the investigation.

On Quebec’s outlying Gaspé Peninsula, the truth can be slippery, especially down on the fishermen’s wharves. Interviews drift into idle chit-chat, evidence floats off with the tide and the truth lingers in murky waters. It’s enough to make DS Moralès reach straight for a large whisky…

Both a dark and consuming crime thriller and a lyrical, poetic ode to the sea, We Were the Salt of the Sea is a stunning, page-turning novel, from one of the most exciting new names in crime fiction.

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Praise for Roxanne Bouchard:

‘Colourful, authentic characters with the kind of flavour that can only be inspired by real locals. So good it’ll make you want to pack your bags and drive straight to the seaside’ Journal de Montréal

‘Lyrical and elegiac, full of quirks and twists’ William Ryan

‘Asks questions right from page one’ Quentin Bates

‘An isolated Canadian fishing community, a missing mother, and some lovely prose. Very impressed by this debut so far’ Eva Dolan

'A tour de force of both writing and translation’ Su Bristow

'The translation from French has retained a dreamily poetic cast to the language, but it's det-fic for all that, as DS Joaquin Morales, transplanted from balmy Mexican shores to a remote Quebecois fishing community, investigates a woman's death at sea. This is the first book by Bouchard, renowned Canadian playwright and author, to be translated into English' Sunday Times

'Characters are well-drawn, from Moralès, the cop, and his sturdy inspector, Marlène, to the husky fishermen who were Marie's devoted suitors three decades ago. There's a comic element: the chef at the bistro, a mine of misleading information; the alcoholic priest who was never ordained - and the appalling undertaker who was once a used-car salesman and never forgot the spiel … An exotic curiosity, raw nugget’ Shots Mag

French-Canadian Roxanne Bouchard is a multi-award-winning author and playwright from Quebec, Canada, and We Were the Salt of the Sea is her first novel to be published in English. She is currently writing an essay on literary creativity, and plotting the next Detective Sergeant Joaquin Moralès investigation, which will be published in English in 2020.