Salt the Snow

Written by Carrie Callaghan

Narrated by Jennifer Jill Araya

American journalist Milly Bennett has covered murders in San Francisco, fires in Hawaii, and a civil war in China, but 1930s Moscow presents her greatest challenge yet. When her young Russian husband is suddenly arrested by the secret police, Milly tries to get him released. But his arrest reveals both painful secrets about her marriage and hard truths about the Soviet state she has been working to serve. Disillusioned and pulled toward the front lines of a captivating new conflict, Milly must find a way to do the right thing for her husband, her conscience, and her heart. Salt the Snow is a vivid and impeccably researched tale of a woman ahead of her time, searching for her true calling in life and love.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc
• Release date: Jan 7, 2020
• ISBN: 9781515948094

Reviews for Salt the Snow

[bookscookslooks · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I did not know when I accepted this book for review that it was based on a real person. For me that always makes a novel more interesting and it tends to send me off on a researching binge. Sometimes I end up down a reading rabbit hole thanks to what I find and I love that. Salt the Snow introduces Milly Bennet, a journalist who goes to Russia during the Depression to explore the building of Socialism. After the collapse of the financial system in the United States she sees the rebuilding going on and the promise of a new society as something hopeful but as history has shown us post revolution Russia was anything but a glorious experiment.Milly is a very unique woman for her time as she has this job in the first place and she tends to run through men like water. I can’t say that I liked her as a character. It was hard to be sympathetic with her blind belief in the Russian system that was so obviously not working. It was only when she tried to buck it in support of her husband – a man whose true reality was in front of her but she refused to recognize, much like the political system she was cheerleading – that she started to see things clearly.The story was a little confusing and for me a few aspects just plain didn’t make sense. But when dealing with real life it is said that truth is stranger than fiction. The writing is not to be faulted; it is compelling and Ms. Callaghan sets her scenes with skill whether it’s a run down apartment in Moscow or a war torn village in Spain. The frigid cold of a Russian winter is felt as the reader walks with a character through the night. I swear I needed my lap blanket while reading!Arguably Milly Bennett was a woman ahead of her time but it was just hard to get behind her as she seemed to be an unhappy, unpleasant woman. At least for me it’s difficult to fall in love with a book with a main character that you can’t really get behind. What I did enjoy was the obviously well researched forays into life in Russia into life after the Revolution.

[mishker-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Millie Bennett is a jet setting, free-spirited journalist in the 1930's.  Millie has covered events in San Francisco, Hawaii and war in China.  Now, she is in Moscow working for the Moscow Daily News.  Millie mostly covers fluff stories and works on translations.  However, Millie longs to write stories of the effects of socialism , stories that matter.  Millie is able to experience firsthand the issues that arise with the system of government when her Russian husband, Zhenya is arrested.  Millie assumes that his arrest is due to a story she wrote and desperately tries to get him out.  However, when it is revealed that Zhenya was arrested for lewd behavior, Millie reveals more secrets about her marriage as well as the government. Salt the Snow introduced me to the fascinating life of the first female war corespondent, Millie Bennett. I never would have imagined that there were female war corespondents in the 1930's, much less one like Millie!  I was pulled into her vivacious character in the very first scene with her arrival home from a party.  Carrie Callaghan's writing brings 1930's Moscow to life, as despondent as it may be.  Millie's spirit never seemed to fit in with the setting.  She always seemed to be a bright and animated character in a dreary and repressed place.  In the first half of the story, the writing bounces back and forth between before Zhenya was arrested and after before settling into a linear timeline.  I found the first half of the story interesting, but not exciting.  I was curious about Millie's interactions with the government, especially the police as well as the conditions for the rest of the population in Moscow.  I was also questioning whether or not Millie truly realized her husbands secret or was simply hiding it from herself.  The pace picked up a bit for me as Millie actions attracted the attention of the police and she decided that what had happened to Zhenya as well as herself needed to be documented, even if it could not be published for a while.  From Moscow, Millie escaped to Spain, I wish her story would have been continued there!  This book was received for free in return for an honest review.