Advance Praise
“Once again, Valerie Miner has written a book I don’t want to put down. In Bread and Salt, Miner has constructed countless vibrant worlds. So many richly-drawn characters in this new collection! So many small treasures.”
—Camille T. Dungy, author of Guidebook to Relative Strangers: Journeys into Race, Motherhood, and History
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“Meticulously observed, acutely felt, cosmopolitan in scope and vision, the stories in Valerie Miner’s Bread and Salt explore how, contrary to intuition, not being at home is ultimately the fundamental human condition. Whether that home takes the form of place, friends, lovers, or our own bodies, it will until the end remain wondrously, buoyantly, shatteringly unfinalizable.”
—Lance Olsen, author of My Red Heaven
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“Bread and Salt is an exquisite read. It’s lyrical, humorous, and intensely human in rich and quirky ways. Hauntings interrupt conversations and dreams; predictable lives are blown open; chance encounters morph into lifelong intimacies. Miner deftly transports her characters -and the reader- across myriad emotional, political, and geographical terrains, leaving us breathless. A marvel of a collection.”
–Patricia Powell, author of The Pagoda and The Fullness of Everything
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“Across continents and oceans, in the waiting rooms that are the interstices of travel, through characters welcoming and leaving, Valerie Miner’s stories delineate the complex geometry of friendship both brief and lifelong.”
–Carol Anshaw, author of Right after the Weather
Goodreads and LibraryThing Reactions
“A masterfully written collection of stories. The locations, from California to Tunisia, make you want to travel to far-away places, but it’s the relationships, of all kinds, that fuel these tales. Often it’s the chance meetings or strangers that make for the most interesting encounters.”
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“I am about half way through the book. This collection of stories from all over the world has been wonderfully written. Every single story so far has transformed me into a different place and made me feel connected to people in many different scenarios. I’m really enjoying it. I’m taking my time, devouring the stories.”
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“I really enjoyed these short stories. They made you think about what you read. Some end kind of abruptly which leaves you wanting a little more. All in all a good way to spend an evening.”
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“I’m not an avid reader of short stories, but the pandemic has shortened my focus and energy. While I chose Miner’s latest collection for story length, it’s her characters and quiet attention to detail that kept me reading. Miner proves you don’t need page count to tell a story with complexity and intimacy. As a reader, you immediately feel like you’ve dropped in on a conversation between friends. Instead of a surprising plot twist, there is comfort in knowing what happens next. Often there is tension or conflict between characters, but it isn’t aggressive. Rather, these moments remind us what makes us each different, and how much we really have in common.”
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“This collection of short stories are well written glimpses into lives. In many cases the characters are dealing with loss by connecting with strangers while traveling. The revelations are subtle and true to life.”
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“A collection of short stories, and one novella, that is a delight to read. Elegantly written, varied and moving. A longer review will only detract from the sense of wonder and discovery these stories gave me as I read them.”
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“Miner is very good at creating moments of dramatic tension, particularly a sense of impending, unseen threat. She also writes very, very poignantly about grief and loss, and the sadness of unmet expectations.”
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“I really liked the stories in this collection. They feel very human, very genuine, and they aren’t all happy, which is refreshing…The title novella was my favorite, seconded by Far Enough. The women in the stories feel very real.”
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“Valerie Miner’s short story collection “Blood and Salt” offers up a group of stories that give use glimpses into moments and lives. The majority of the stories are quiet ones, though there a few dark ones in this collection…The title story, the novella that closes the volume, “Blood and Salt,” is an excellent combination of the themes of friendship and family that runs though the other stories. The novella concerns Caroline who travels back to Tunisia and relives parts of her youth. The writing in this closing story is particularly good…The stories, in general, concern friendship in particular friendship among women and predominately feature women who are in their middle or later years. The book also features LGBTQIA+ characters.”
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