The Salt Flats, Rachelle Atalla
The Salt Flats, Rachelle Atalla
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The Salt Flats

Author: Rachelle Atalla

Narrator: Samara MacLaren

Unabridged: 11 hr 56 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 08/15/2024

Synopsis

As heard on BBC Radio 4 - Take Four Books

THE PERFECT ESCAPE. THE PERFECT NIGHTMARE.

Martha and Finn's marriage is hanging by a thread. Martha, crippled by paralyzing climate anxiety, finds herself at odds with Finn, who steadfastly refuses to confront the demons of his past.

In a desperate attempt to repair their relationship, they join a group of privileged tourists on a pilgrimage to The Salt Centre, a mysterious retreat nestled deep within the Bolivian salt flats.

United by a shared quest for spiritual enlightenment, the group embark on a journey guided by an elusive shaman. As a series of salt ceremonies unfold, hallucinogenic episodes force each of them to confront their own versions of reality.

When the final ceremony descends into a nightmare, Martha and Finn are met with an ultimatum. Forced to grapple with the moral implications of their trip they must ask themselves: are some wounds too deep to heal?

PRAISE FOR THE SALT FLATS:

'Original and bold, this is an ambitious and hugely imaginative novel.' Lucie McKnight Hardy
'Gripping, compulsive and deeply deeply human.' Heather Parry
'A superb and spellbinding evocation of an otherworldly place, doused in a creeping sense of horror.' Carole Hailey
'Compulsive and compelling.' Cailean Steed

About Rachelle Atalla

Rachelle Atalla is a Scottish-Egyptian novelist and screenwriter based in Glasgow. Her short stories have been published widely in literary anthologies and she is the recipient of a Scottish Book Trust New Writers Award. Her first short film screenplay Trifle was commissioned by the Scottish Film & Talent Network and she is developing her first feature length screenplay with BBC Film. The Pharmacist was her first novel and shortlisted for the Scottish Fiction Book of the Year.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Ceecee on June 24, 2024

Martha and Finn’s marriage is hanging by a thread, a combination of factors that have built up over the years. They take the brave decision to head to the Bolivian Salt Flats and the Salt Centre in the hope of enlightenment and healing under the guidance of shaman Señor Oscar. Four others make their......more

Goodreads review by Elizabeth on August 13, 2024

The Salt Flats is an intense and atmospheric read set amongst the inhospitable salt flats of Bolivia. Martha and Finn travel to the salt flats to a retreat led by an enigmatic character that they hope will repair the cracks in their marriage. They join two other couples. Hannah and Zoe from London an......more

Goodreads review by Scott on November 29, 2024

The Pharmacist and Thirsty Animals have easily been two of my favourite reads this year, but this third novel didn't live up to my hopes. It's lacking the intrigue and suspense of the latter two and while it continues in a remote setting in the Salt Flats of Bolivia, it dispenses with the dystopia o......more

Goodreads review by Helen on August 16, 2024

The Salt Flats is a taut and well-told tale about a couple heading to a mysterious retreat on the Bolivian salt flats. It's difficult to pin down as a specific genre. Is it a book about climate change fear (guilt about climate change eats away at main character Martha)? A thriller? A literary look at......more

Goodreads review by Daren on October 17, 2024

Atalla likes a scenario where a group of disparate people are put under extreme stress. In her first novel, The Pharmacist, it was a bunker after a catastrophic event, in Thirsty Animals, a group trying to survive in a remote area with a scarcity of water. In The Salt Flats, a group of tourists have......more

Quotes

Gripping, original and bold, this is an ambitious and hugely imaginative novel in which a growing sense of unease reaches an almost unbearable intensity. Lucie McKnight Hardy

The Salt Flats is gripping, compulsive and deeply deeply human. Rachelle Atalla is one of the few writers whose novels I cannot put down. Heather Parry

Immersive, confrontational, intelligent and tender. Kirsty Logan

The Salt Flats is a superb and spellbinding evocation of an otherworldly place, doused in a creeping sense of horror, with a cast of characters who are willing to do almost anything to escape from reality. Carole Hailey

Utterly compelling, desolate yet uplifting, and always with one eye on the triumph of the human spirit. A truly terrific novel. Dr Liam Bell

Compulsive and compelling, Rachelle Atalla's The Salt Flats is a tour-de-force, a blistering excavation of the lengths to which people will go to both confront and run from the past. A story that will linger with you, and prompts as many questions as it provides answers. Cailean Steed

The Salt Flats is trippy nightmare of a book, a smart, tense thriller written with huge amounts of heart. Doug Johnstone

In The Salt Flats, Atalla consolidates her status as queen of the claustrophobic character study, finding in the seemingly perfect retreat a pressure cooker to strip her characters right to their respective cores, without ever losing sight of her compassion. A compulsive and thrilling read, Atalla is a major talent to watch. Charlie Roy

This is a novel for our times, but also for all time, as the complex and fragile humanity at its heart will endure SNACK Magazine

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