The Weight of Salt

Florida, 1906 – In the northeast section of Tampa, called Ybor City and known as The Cigar Capital of the World, comes an intimate part of American history that is seldom found in books and susceptible to be forgotten.

Although fiction, The Weight of Salt is inspired by a real person, a real time, and real events. Fifteen-year-old, Angelina Pirrello is bright and excited for her life to begin when she is abruptly torn from her mother’s love and is left to abide by her father’s rigid Italian beliefs. It is the era of unprecedented immigration, the Mafia is terrorizing Italian neighborhoods and store owners, and the fierce fight of the Suffragettes to gain the vote for women.

It is a time when dreams of American freedoms are celebrated and threatened. The old world across the sea clashes with the new, and a young girl must make a choice to fortify or forfeit her spirit. Yet, in the midst of the biggest fire in Florida’s history, and the loss of legions of cigar factories, amid the chaos, Angelina unexpectedly encounters Rolando and soon discovers the force of falling in love. Yet, her dreams are quickly shattered when her father ignores her desire to marry for love and promises her hand in an arranged marriage to an older man she dislikes.

This novel touches on every human emotion, love, joy, heartbreak, passion, and the unexpected. Only because those who lived this story have passed away and cannot testify, this novel is historical fiction and not simply historical fact.

With powerful insight and sensitivity, Sandra Montanino’s debut novel illuminates this long-ago story. She brings us a beautiful, warm, inspiring, yet heartbreakingly novel that celebrates the resilience of one girl. This is a novel for everyone and a tribute to those who lived through it all and those that told and retold their story.