I'm not a fishing person so why did I read a book about fishing? Having read Sarah Drummond's second book, The Sound, I wanted to read more. Salt Story is beautifully written in the easy conversational style that I love. Each chapter is a short vignette into the daily life of the estuarine and inshore fishing community in and around the southern tip of Western Australia. Sarah Drummond worked as a deckie for Salt and came to love the fisher lifestyle of early mornings, rough weather and baggy, wet weather clothing. The plain-spoken, eccentric mix of men and women who make up this band of solitary fishers, have, for the most part, been part of this seasonal way of life since they were kids themselves. With names as original as their personalities Salt, Unruly, Ms Mer, Gawain, Grievous, Nails and Turk are perhaps part of a dying breed but they won't go down without a fight. Sarah Drummond has given us a wonderful look at a way of life and an industry that few of us know anything about. I loved reading her beautiful descriptions, laughed at her sense of humour and the affection she has for these men and women, the fishers of southern WA is tangible. I eagerly await her next book. ( )

I'm so very pleased that a book like this one can attract a mainstream publisher. Beautifully written. The book captures a great Australian character and a way of life that is threatened and on the way out to the detriment of many. ( )