Love and Salt Water

by Ethel Wilson

Ellen Guppy is the reluctant heroine of Ethel Wilson’s final novel, Love and Salt Water. Saddened by a painful childhood, Ellen has adopted a skeptical independence and learned too well to hold her heart in reserve. But, as the novel unfolds, Ellen undergoes something of a sea-change; learning to accept love along with the sorrow that is rarely far from love.

First published in 1956, Love and Salt Water is a mature and, at times, disturbing synthesis of Ethel Wilson’s major themes: the independence of human lives, the strange alchemy of chance, and the healing illumination of love.

Genres: Fiction, Canada, Womens

178 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published October 1, 1990

About the author

Ethel Davis Wilson was a Canadian writer of short stories and novels.

Born in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, she moved to England in 1890 following the death of her mother. In 1898, after the death of her father, she was taken to live with her maternal grandmother in Vancouver, British Columbia. She received her teacher's certificate in 1907, and for thirteen years taught in Vancouver elementary schools.

In 1921 she married Wallace Wilson, President of the Canadian Medical Association and professor of medical ethics at the University of British Columbia.

Wilson is well known as one of the first Canadian writers to truly capture the beauty of British Colombia. She wrote often of places in BC that were important to her and was able to detail the ruggedness and magic of the landscape.

The Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize, British Columbia's top fiction award, was created in 1985, commemorating Wilson's achievements.

Reviews

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

***To see all of my reviews, go to my blog: Flawless Words

Love and Salt Water. I really couldn't think of a more fitting title for this book. Love. Salt Water. You could consider those to be the the two main characters of the story.

This book really grew on me, especially as it drew closer to the end. After finishing the book, I decided that I really liked it as a whole, though there were times while I was reading it that I thought I should just give up and move on to something else. I think that's because in the first part of the book, nothing that interesting really happens. Well, okay, the main character's mother dies and her father takes her on some interminable voyage by sea. I didn't really feel the tragedy of the mother's death, but rather it felt like a tool so that the author could get them out onto the water.

The second part of the story begins to get a lot more interesting. The main character, Ellen, has to take her pampered nephew away to visit an aunt because her sister and her husband have to go on a work trip. While they are there, tragedy strikes, almost, and in the last quarter of the book the interesting parts start.

Getting back to that main character of salt water. I really enjoyed the different roles that salt water played in the book. The sea was a constant presence, except I suppose when Ellen lived on the Prairies. She couldn't keep away from it for long, even though I suppose it also had quite a negative meaning. For example, because her father took her floating away over the sea after her mother's death, and while on that voyage she saw a sailor boy swept away by the sea. Also, because salt water was the ultimate cause of the almost-tragedy towards the end of the book.

I'm glad that I read this book. Its setting in BC in the 30s(?) is lovely and probably very different to how that part of the world is now. I've added Swamp Angel, one of Ethel Wilson's other well-known books, to my to read list.

[Patty · Rating 3 out of 5]

The sea is a constant presence in this novel about Ellen Cuppy living a charmed life with a newly married older sister, and loving parents in pre World War 2 Vancouver. The ocean both takes her father away on freighters for long periods of time but also provides solace when father and daughter sail together following a family tragedy. Long after Ellen has grown and returns to the coast the sea is both soothing and menacing, forcing independent Ellen to make a choice about love. Wilson's writing style betrays its 50s roots with its restrained characters and descriptions now considered inappropriate. She's best when describing a West Coast now disappeared, when False Creek was busy with commercial boats not lined with condos and when the Gulf Islands, beyond the reach of ferries, were wilder and remote.

[Joanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

This slight book almost like being in a conversation with someone who is recounting their life story, where they glaze over parts and remember others with great detail. I did really like the setting of the book as I grew up in British Columbia, and the places seem familiar. The use of plot devices (foreshadowing) was a bit clunky. This is my first Ethel Wilson book and I am looking forward to reading Swamp Angel soon.

[Ibis3 · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very difficult book to describe. It's so short yet packed with stories, some only distantly related to what might be considered the central plot. Just like life. Ellen Cuppy's family suffers disruption. She takes a trip on a freighter where tragedy happens. She gets engaged to someone she loves. She breaks it off because he's got an angry, impatient personality. She goes to work for an eccentric rich man. She takes her young nephew out in a rowboat and a near-tragedy happens. She eventually gets married. It's all very disconnected and yet not. And most of it is interesting while Wilson is describing it. Occasionally a little repetitive though. Enjoyed it very much.

[Clivemichael · Rating 1 out of 5]

It reads like three separate novellas back to back. I found it difficult to follow, no plot to speak of, repetitious, full of irrelevancies, tedious and boring. It had a surprising number of run-on sentences. The characters lack any depth or description. Hard to know what was the point. “Unexpected results came from insignificant happenings; significant moments brought revelation; history anytime change disclosed these things. She was restless but not unhappy.”