An astonishing and remarkable adventure! The author wrote this story beautifully as I could truly feel the hot desert sands beneath my feet and see the magnificence of the land through the eyes of her characters. In various chapters throughout the book her words were quite poetic as she captured the lives of its people. As it takes you along their journey you come to know how fate does seem to push us along the many paths that must be taken. A very enjoyable book indeed and highly recommended.

I read Jane Johnson's The Tenth Gift in July of 2009. That story involved the lives of two women living in two different time periods paralleling each other. The story and Johnson's writing stayed in my mind; a woven tapestry that at the end was revealed its completion not its unraveling. I know I'm being overly dramatic here but I've never really come across another writer like Jane Johnson, with her exotic settings, evocative prose and dynamic female characters. Maybe I could call up a few authors that have storylines with similar elements but not the same way of threading together the stories and histories of the female characters.

Johnson's sophomore effort The Salt Road, is equally good as The Tenth Gift, and follows a similar formula. This time we are taken to the historical land of the desert Tuareg tribes and modern day Morocco. At its heart, The Salt Road is about the strength of women, and further, is wonderfully insightful about the lives of the Tuareg people. The women in the novel, Mariata and Isabelle, overcome abuse and hardship and in the process find their true selves. There are also good and not so good surprises in store for both characters that keep the story suspenseful. Johnson portrays the Tuaregs as a fierce people fighting to preserve their traditions in an oppressive world.

I recommend The Salt Road. Its focus on the lives of women reminded me other great novels with strong women within an historical context:

The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
The Expected One and The Book of Love by Kathleen McGowan
Labyrinth by Kate Mosse

My Rating: 4.5

I was disappointed in this book. I was looking forward to reading it but found it slow and not really engaging - I had to force myself to keep reading, when usually I find it hard to put books down. I also found the main character not overly likable.

Great location, lots of detail. I fell in love with the descriptions of the desert. But the storyline was very slow and only really picked up in the last 50 pages or so. There are also two different plots, two storylines and it's easy to get confused between them. Even though they eventually tie together.

Not a book that I would recommend but if it's on your reading list I wouldn't not recommend either. The descriptions were fanstastic!