As Meat Loves Salt [Paperback]

In the seventeenth century, the English Revolution is under way. The nation, seething with religious and political discontent, has erupted into violence and terror. Jacob Cullen and his fellow soldiers dream of rebuilding their lives when the fighting is over. But the shattering events of war will overtake them.
A darkly erotic tale of passion and obsession,As Meat Loves Saltis a gripping portrait of England beset by war. It is also a moving portrait of a man on the brink of madness. Hailed as a masterpiece, this is a novel by a most original new voice in fiction.

A Harvest Original

PRAISE FORAS MEAT LOVES SALT

Absorbing and historically meticulous . . . a fat, juicy masterpiece. --The Economist

McCann, a marvelous storyteller, does not disappoint. Forbidden sensuality is searingly described by chiaroscuro candlelight. Rich in secrets and surprises, this novel has its own fierce poetry. --The Independent(London)

A story tense with anguish, intimacy and shame . . . it imaginatively re-creates the mentality of a society racked by war and intoxicated by radical new ideas of freedom and chance. . . . This is an intriguing and disturbing first novel which lingers in the mind. --TheTimes Literary Supplement

ONE

Scum Rises

ON THE MORNING we dragged the pond for Patience White, I bent so far down trying to see beneath the surface that my own face peered up at me, twisted and frowning. The three of us had churned up the water until it was half mud and spattered with flecks of weed before I knocked my foot against something loose and heavy that lolled about as we splashed. I tried to push it away from us, but too late.

'It is she.' Izzy's lips were drawn back from his teeth.

I shook my head. 'That's a log.'

'No, Jacob - here, here-'

He seized my hand and plunged it in the water near his right leg. My heart fairly l3,